This sounds like you're describing C++ from 20 years ago. Or maybe some ugly monstrosity like Qt.
Everything uses/supports standard library containers or interfaces now.
There's nothing ugly about Qt. In particular, the core system defines a way to add features to classes that were missing (MOC) and provides a full foundation of types up to network and other event-driven multi-threaded servers. Frankly I think it's one of the best examples of C++ I've seen.
C++ soldiers on because it can support such things and adapt to decades of changing hardware and philosophy. But the pain of using and composing libraries in C++ is not just about not having cargo or npm - it's the lack of consensus on data types for anything beyond C primitives.