Speaking as a Canadian, I suppose this is maybe technically true from an economic standpoint, but…we don’t even accept table syrup as a substitute, much less honey or jam.
(and I’ll bet IHOP serves table, not maple, syrup…)
A better analogy is that maple syrup is to jam or honey as brandy is to beer.
Yeah — they have the same sort of fundamental purpose but if your recipe or drink calls for wine you probably don’t want to substitute beer or vice versa.
My local grocery store sells maple syrup for $1.90/100mL and table syrup for $0.60/100mL. This means that a serving of maple syrup would cost $0.95 and table syrup would cost $0.30, or a difference of $0.65 per person per meal.
As 'luxuries' go, we're not talking about large amounts of money here, even for a low income family, to afford. I grew up in a low income family, and we still used actual maple syrup growing up because the difference in quality is worth it.
For what it's worth, my SO grew up in Texas and absolutely prefers the taste & consistency of table syrup over maple syrup for our use cases (pancakes & waffles). I suppose it's what he grew up with and that's what "syrup" is supposed to taste like to him.
Where exactly peoples breaking points are varies, but you can be quite poor and still have some wiggle room. 1.50/meal vs buying used clothes is easy etc.
So sure it might be real maple syrup on the cheapest pancakes it's possible to make, but it's well worth it.
Honey and especially jam are ridiculous examples for substitutes.