> Bitcoin isn't acting as a middleman here-it's the end.
No, Employer > USD > Bitcoin > You. If you're using dollar equivalent for any reason whatsoever, then that's what you're really being paid in. Your salary is being priced in dollars, not Bitcoin.
> You can't really claim someone is paid in dollars unless (1) they receive actual dollars, or (2) the thing they receive instead is guaranteed to be exchangeable for that dollar amount at any point into the future.
Yes I can. Your employer is paying out dollars, that it's converted to something along the way is not relevant, they're paying you in dollars; you just receive something else through a middleman, in this case the Bitcoin network.