I think we'll start to see regular consumers harmed by some of these start-ups destroying hardware when they go out of business, and perhaps people will stop buying them unless there's some protection. Then the "free" solutions will be looked at suspiciously and hopefully discounted by the tech press and retailers. Alternately, retailers might be held liable for refunding purchases of products that stop working before the legally mandated warranty date (such as in the EU) or by credit card companies in the US, so they'll stop selling any cloud required garbage.
Also remember that if you’re maintaining the hub yourself it won’t get security updates.
I think consumers need to understand that when they buy a connected device, they are also buying a license to the software that powers it. That license is generally not perpetual unless specified.
For example, a local administration page that can be accessed within the LAN, and which can then be proxied by the provider. In the case that the provider goes out of business you lose the remote control (unless setting up your own VPN) but the device won't be bricked.
Unfortunately, I imagine some companies intentionally avoid doing this to require customers to pay a subscription fee.