Yes, in my opinion the biggest problem with straight SQL is dynamic filters. It easily becomes a huge mess and that filter is only good for that one query, sure you can layer on stuff to make it better, but then you might as well use a library.
WHERE (name LIKE :name OR :name IS NULL)
AND (city = :city OR :city IS NULL)
AND ...
Still, I prefer explicit SQL in webservices/microservices/etc. the code and its logic is "irrelevant" - we care only about external effects: database content, result of a db query, calls to external services (db can be considered to be nothing more than an external service). And it's easier to understand what's going on when there is one less layer of abstraction (orm)