Well, I think it's certainly not how UX is sold, but I think it can end up that way, or even worse. I've been in several meetings with expensive UX consultants where we're paying them to run team retros for teams they aren't in, or doing mood board style exercises. Lots of internal work that's invisible but claims to add enough value to pay a large amount of money for.

Now, I'm someone who insists on having a UX/UI person in the team when I'm making an app, as I want it all to go well, and I don't mind spending a chunk to get it, but the number of people I've found who can actually do that is vanishingly small compared to the number of people who are billed out as expensive UX consultants.