What I'm seeing is trades workers basically don't want small one off jobs because you waste so much time on the overheads unrelated to the actual work. If someone has a hole in the wall they need patched, you're spending time answering the phone, estimating the price, driving there, billing the customer, etc. And a lot of jobs are very one off and difficult to evaluate the price.
Why even bother when you could just work for a mass build and plaster up hundreds of walls in a single job on a new apartment building or housing development.
So as an individual it's almost impossible to get someone over to do a small job, and your only realistic option is to do it yourself.
Most of the tradesmen around me won't even get out of bed for less than $1,000. They really don't want piddly little jobs from us peasants. I've started DIY'ing almost everything I need to do around the house because if you call an electrician, he'll quote you a $2,000 "go away" price because he's busy doing $50K new construction jobs.
I don't really know how this is any different now from the 1990s. I think there is a sense of bottom level on price they'll take for a job due to litigation/insurance concerns. But, handymen are what should be doing a lot of these jobs. I do think there is another concern about quality of workmanship as well. You take on these small jobs, one goes poorly - you take a huge hit on your reputation comparatively and have to fight to get small jobs even more than before. That wasn't as big of a concern before the internet made everyone's reputation so important. Losing one customer wasn't losing the whole market - whereas it is now. A few negative reviews can permanently tank your business.