This method would still preserve a free market and not require top down control. In fact it could remove a great deal of government/bureaucracy.
I think the key would be to make sure that people are paid not too much so that the low paid, menial but essential jobs are still filled and inflation doesn't sky rocket.
If the low paying, menial jobs are indeed essential, why are they low paying? Do the people working these jobs currently really have a choice? Is that morally justifiable?
They're low paying largely because the capitalist class uses both brute force and state power (union-busting is a premier example) to systematically suppress the price of labor.
What kind of brute force are you talking about? If people want to unionize they are free to do so. But business owners should be free to ignore unions if they wish and use force if unions decide to occupy the business private property as protected by the constitution. They are free to stop working and protest but business owners should be free to replace them if they can. None of the parties however should be allowed to steal from the other's property and if it happens they should be able to ask the state for protection of their belonging.
Oh, and then there's the issue that property in the means of production is itself a relation created by the capitalist state, as are the modes of its organization (ie: joint-stock companies instead of commons trusts or workers' cooperatives).
These jobs are low paying because competition is high between low-skilled candidates: "if you don't want to mob the floor, you're fired, I'll find someone else".
Do these people have a choice ? They usually have a choice between many low paying jobs.
Is it morally justifiable? If you believe meritocracy is a bad thing, then no. If you think it's a good thing, then low paying low-skilled jobs are just a fact.
I think the key would be to make sure that people are paid not too much so that the low paid, menial but essential jobs are still filled
You don't need to worry about that. If those jobs are really essential, then they won't remain low paid; the salaries will increase until they find people willing to do them.
Of course, it might be weird to see dishwashers earning more than programmers, but on the other hand that won't last, since it'll create plenty of business opportunities to automate them.
In my Grandfathers generation, attendants pumped gas into cars. People pump their own gas now. The world didn't end.
I've never seen a shoeshine boy other than in movies.
I expect a lot of jobs would simply disappear and no one would really mind. So you'll have to bag your own groceries, well, OK then. Hmm this store doesn't have any garbage cans or bathrooms for shoppers, interesting, I guess that means they don't have to maintain something that isn't there. My local bank branch no longer has tellers, its all on the insurance agent model where the local branch is a cheap one room office in an office park, or its all online, I was a customer of NetBank for many years until their downfall, which was nothing to do with customer service, they were bought by a subprime mortgage broker trying to diversify who obviously went bankrupt, no branches was never an issue.
I think the key would be to make sure that people are paid not too much so that the low paid, menial but essential jobs are still filled and inflation doesn't sky rocket.