I am in my fifth decade of life and quality has never been so good. All products and services I use on a daily basis are of better quality than 20 years ago.
Now onto low-paying jobs, products and services. Due to low payment those shouldn't even be of high quality - just good enough, fulfilling the most minimal of duties as you say.
My daily driver OS crashed multiple times a day 20 years ago and laptop hardware was sus at best. So yeah, I think quality is better. Also, look at cars. So much better with every decade that passes. It’s incredible.
Now onto low-paying jobs, products and services. Due to low payment those shouldn't even be of high quality - just good enough, fulfilling the most minimal of duties as you say.