I didn't end up taking it, but I was offered a job with a company based out of Illinois that did this. Upon termination (voluntary or otherwise) the company had the choice to enforce the noncompete clause or not. If they chose to enforce it I'd have gotten paid my salary for the duration. A lawyer explained to me that this was how they were working around Illinois restrictions on non-compete clauses. Normally the terms they were applying wouldn't be enforceable, but by continuing the salary they were essentially extending the employment agreement.

To be in the realm of fair non-compete compensation needs to be total comp and not just base salary. In the US while not working you need to cover healthcare costs and many roles have a significant portion of comp from percentages of sales, bonuses, and other incentives. Just a base salary payment during a 6-12 month furlough would be a big pay cut for many.

There also likely needs to be some additional compensation for lost time in the market when skills are atrophying or new experience isn't being gained.

Non-competes have a place, but there needs to be tons of rules around their use, like only being available for specialized and other high paid roles. Something like 3x-4x median salary to be a position eligible for a company to even propose a non-compete.