If you were in the hospital for an extended period, you could pay someone to sit and talk with you. But you couldn't pay them to do it spontaneously because the

If you were in the hospital for an extended period, you could pay someone to sit and talk with you. But you couldn't pay them to do it spontaneously because they cared. You can pay someone for sex now. You can't pay someone to think about you all day and be consumed with anticipation just before you meet. You can pay someone to go out with you to a social occasion. You can't pay someone to share a knowing glance across the table when you have some shared observation of the behavior of a third party. When you know before you look that you're going to have this shared observation. And I'm not putting sex work down; it also has its place. It's just not the same as a relationship.