Self hosting does not, and never did, mean solely running a physical server yourself. It means that you are running the services from a server you control. That

Self hosting does not, and never did, mean solely running a physical server yourself. It means that you are running the services from a server you control. That can be a physical server, but a VPS fits the bill just fine. You're correct that terms have meanings, but this term has never meant what you're trying to constrain it to.