Dare I suggest it - part of the problem here is the minimum wage. I'm pretty ambivalent about even writing that, but before you downvote me, think about it. The only way it makes sense to hire a human is if you expect to make more money from having them than you pay them in wages. Which means (in the US) that human labor has to be worth more than about $10 (including taxes and benefits) per hour to even consider. It's just not worth hiring a human dishwasher at that rate. Would it be at $3/hour? Perhaps.
The trouble, of course, is that we've already been on the automation train long enough that it's not quite so simple as just removing the law now. Is not like flood of low-paying (but greater than zero-paying) jobs will materialize out of thin air.
With it, minimum wages could be abolished. Then that flood of low-paying jobs will materialize, not out of thin air, but out of China. It will, likely, also bring back jobs in shoe repair and the like.
The trouble, of course, is that we've already been on the automation train long enough that it's not quite so simple as just removing the law now. Is not like flood of low-paying (but greater than zero-paying) jobs will materialize out of thin air.