> Emacs `M-x sql-connect` is much easier for me to do than to look up, in VS Code, what shortcut has been assigned to the extension I use that does the same thing [...]

> removes the whole command interface

`C-shift-P` works the same in VS Code (and other editors) as `M-x` in Emacs. VS Code (and many other Editors, like Sublime Text) has the same "keyboard only" usage possibility as Emacs.

I've switched from Emacs (after more than 20 years) to VS Code to Sublime Text and did not need to change my habits. And to be honest, Sublime Merge is what Magit always wanted to be, a useful combination of GUI (for the "easy stuff") and a textual interface for git.