I think this is a bit hyperbolic. Once you try to implement any standard
in practice to billions of people & devices you're going to find the same constraints and similar trade-offs everywhere.
Manufacturers are going to cheap out, always. There's no way around the fact that goods can get on the market claiming a thing that it doesn't do (perfectly) in practice. Tech is littered with semi-compliance. I hate to kick the can down to 'let consumers figure it out' but there's hardly a realistic alternative, you just can't police ~10 billion cables sold a year across ~10 million retailers. I haven't heard of your first example anywhere actually happening, it sounds theoretical more than widespread in practice in 2023, 8 years into this USB-C thing.
As far as cables with different capabilities, what is the alternative here?
1. Physics of signaling demand certain capabilities require higher quality / more expensive cables. Zero chance you get people or manufacturers lined up around the idea of highest common denominator (e.g. 40gbps capable $30 cable when consumer wants a $3 charging cable), and that's sorta moot anyway because...
2. Standards evolve, and we're all tired of playing the game we've played for 50 years in tech of new physical connectors every few years.
It's either a) you have the same physical connector and different cables, or b) different physical connectors that briefly use the same cables before they become differentiated when standards evolve.
The reality is 'it works but not as good' (speed or charge-wise) is a superior tradeoff to 'I have to buy a totally different cable' in the high % of use cases where 'not as good' is possible, which is stuff like 'charge my phone' or 'plug my printer/audio device/whatever in'.
Honestly the only unforced errors I see with USB-C are consumer education related. USB versioning should be simple (3, 4, 5) not intentionally obtuse ("3.2 gen 2x2"), and something like iconography should be added to indicate premium cable capability (specific higher voltage & bandwidth capabilities) to avoid to play the plug in and try it game.