The fact that most employers do dictate hours is a function of those job expectations, not their legal employment classification.
It is pretty common for mid or senior level white-collar salaried jobs to have a decent amount of freedom in working hours within what is functionally reasonable for their role.
That is so disconnected from reality for the majority of American workers that you might have broken me. But lets start with salaried workers have a job .. Their employers don't care what time you work as long as you get that job done. How exactly would that work for Uber? quotas? avg 2-3 rides and hour or ur fired?
I am saying, classification as an employee does not require Uber to change anything about their expectations of their workers' work frequency, duration, or schedule. It can remain voluntary just as it is now.
There are currently voluntary hourly jobs that exist, but people here are probably less familiar with that concept as compared to salaried jobs.
As employees, Uber cannot dynamically vary the pay/minute rate, especially if it falls below minimum wage combined with vehicle/gas reimbursement.