You don't need services to be fully publicly run. It'd be sufficient for just the required natural monopoly infrastructure to be publicly run, with companies bu

You don't need services to be fully publicly run. It'd be sufficient for just the required natural monopoly infrastructure to be publicly run, with companies buying access to that infrastructure to actually sell service to consumers. This doesn't fully address your point. The government might still do that part badly. But it isn't quite as bad as entirely state-owned public services. We don't have any better solution for natural monopoly situations, such as pipes and roads.