The time I tried this in with my previous carrier with a smartphone, I had to call the cellular provider and get the phone "authorized" before it would work. I don't know if this was specific to the carrier, specific to the phone, or to the era (~10 years ago).
With my current carrier, switching physical SIMs does not activate the phone on the service. I have to use an app. Perhaps this is because I use an MVNO? eSIMs make this easier.
I had no problem swapping SIMs for basic phone service in the pre-smartphone era.
While I am an eSIM proponent, what you're describing could happen with eSIMs as well and is unrelated to the format of the SIM.
For example, I use AT&T and before eSIM I could transfer my physical SIM between phones without calling AT&T. Now, with eSIM I can still transfer my eSIM between phones without calling AT&T so nothing has really changed.
Can you transfer it between phones if one of them isn't working? This is an issue I have actually faced in the past that was no problem at all with a physical SIM. If I'm outside the US, my phone dies/is crushed, and I need to be back up and working: right now, I just pull my backup phone out of my bag, put the SIM in (assuming it isn't crushed or dead), and within a few minutes, I'm back up and running. If I have to go find WiFi to be able to get to Verizon's website to start the eSIM process, that's much more of a challenge. No 2FA because... my phone's dead and I can't get a text. No Verizon stores to show them the corpse of my old phone.
If there were some way to pre-transfer the eSIM and only activate it if needed, it might be a different story.
These pros and cons you list are all down to policies that a carrier may enact.
With a physical SIM, they can't stop you putting it into another phone, and there are no good technical reasons why you shouldn't be able to swap a SIM into a compatible phone and have it work immediately. That's how it's worked in many countries since GSM came out in the 90s.
With eSIMs, you may need to contact the carrier to transfer the SIM to a new device. This is a contact point with the carrier - and one where they can add barriers or fees.
With my current carrier, switching physical SIMs does not activate the phone on the service. I have to use an app. Perhaps this is because I use an MVNO? eSIMs make this easier.
I had no problem swapping SIMs for basic phone service in the pre-smartphone era.