So instead of writing dead simple SQL queries (that mostly you could copy-paste if you don't want the complexity of dynamically generating them) it was easier and simpler to switch the whole data layer?

Why wouldn't you auto generate the simple SQL stuff? It's a no brainier really. It's so easy to dynamically create simple selects, updates, etc.

I played around with that a little, but it seemed like once you start trying to auto-generate SQL from objects you are basically writing a simple ORM. So you either spend time writing queries, spend time building an ORM, spend time fixing an existing ORM, or some combination of those.

Sure, but it's about finding that sweet spot. I dislike large ORMs The majority of queries are simple and trivial to auto generate. The more entities you add the more value you get from it.