Mildly Infuriating

You seem to be portraying "libertarianism" as a negative attribute for a worker. I don't concede that at all.

A menial laborer has a sudden, unexpected opportunity fall in his lap. He wins tickets to a baseball game for him and his daughter.

As an employee, he has to weigh the ramifications of going to the game against his obligation to his employer. He has to face their attendance policy. A policy he had no meaningful input in developing, that he can either accept, or lose his job. That policy says he has to be at his station, stacking product on retail shelves, or earn himself a mark toward termination.

As a contractor, he writes his own attendance policy. The only consequence he faces for skipping work is he doesn't get paid.

As an employee, he will likely have to say "Sorry, I can't afford to skip my job stacking boxes on shelves, even for the opportunity to share this game with my kid. Can I get cash value instead?"

As a contractor, turning down the tickets doesn't even begin to enter his thoughts. The time at the game is more valuable to him than the compensation for stacking boxes on shelves, so he turns off his driver app and goes to the game. His "company" doesn't care that he skipped work to go to a game. They just keep dispatching work to the people who show up.

The "employment" model is absolutely terrible for the menial laborer, especially for non-union workers. It gives business entirely too much control over the lives of its workers. It's completely disgusting that we allow major corporations to use this model.

The primary compensation method for most menial labor should be piecework, not hourly. A business needs to set a piecework rate high enough that new, inexperienced workers are willing to perform. Experienced, efficient, and proficient menial laborers who can optimize their production and produce several times the rate of a new worker should be paid several times higher.

Hourly wages should be reserved for skilled jobs, or where the worker is spending a substantial part of their time waiting for processes to finish rather than proceeding at their own pace.

Employer-sponsored healthcare and other essential programs are not "benefits". They are entanglements designed to make it harder for the employee to say "no" to the employer's demands. They aren't benefits; they are extortions.