> Labor seems to be one of the few things where supply and demand dont apply.

I don't understand this. From my perspective, the labor market in the United States today is possibly the best example of supply and demand mechanics.

Lol. No.

At the low end, the market is directly supported by welfare programs. In the middle, supply friction is distorted by health insurance. There are meaningful market forces at play at the upper echelon, but it’s more a social market than tied to actual business outcomes.

Obvious distortions exist, the ones you noted, plus minimum wage and so forth.

However, discussion to this point notwithstanding, I still believe it's the most exemplary mechanic of supply and demand today.

Adam Smith only mentions markets in the context of a free labor market.

It’s the only supply and demand metric he ever describes.

It was generalized into everything is a market, with jargon cottage industry springing up around everything; market is a hammer, and we pound nails.

That's not true at all. He talks a lot about land rent, and argues that at the end of the day a farmer who rents crappy land and a farmer that rents good land should make about the same, since the difference in rents will about balance the difference in yields. A tenant farmer is a small businessman, not an employee.