So basically do what some states have done for plumbers, electricians or other trades with a licensing body and professional cartel?
Bars to entry and a strong incentive to keep the status quo once you're in will certainly jack up prices and pay and businesses who have to follow the law will have to get their gig services from the cartel members but everyone else will just consume less of the services. Considering that these gig economy services are mostly consumer facing I think you'd just see demand fall off a cliff if prices were raised by regulation. The survivors would have high wages but unless some other employment option is available labor force participation will suffer.
I think if it was as easy as cranking the regulation knob to 11 someone would have already done it.
But at that price point, I'll probably make the trip to get my own pizza / take out.
The gig economy isn't really gig's it more about the externalization of laziness. And companies breaking the social contract IMHO. They are creating such serious problems long term for the work forces that lose effective labor to these crap jobs.
I'm Australia, I live a far distance from and India restaurant I like. I'll still do the drive to pickup my food. If I use some gig delivery app then I'm pretty sure I'm asking for someone to do work for me that's probably unpaid in some extent. I know almost to 100% that they don't have superannuation and anything near the benefits that I had when I worked in crappy jobs when I was younger.
This also irks me from a employment participation standpoint. In the tech world, people bemoad "the best minds of my generation working out how to make people click adds" etc. But no ones talking about what happens to a few generations of people that are forced into pay cheque to pay cheque living and the down stream social welfare and or retirement cost of these shit jobs.
We're letting a lot of companies make money off the future well being of their workforce who happen to also be our citizens.
Long post. Sorry if it's ranty.