I agree, and would like to pay Google (would have already done so earlier), BUT, there is this gaping trust gap. I find it hard to trust that my account won't one day be randomly banned with no option to communicate with a human customer support agent.
Based on a cursory search, these bans are not so uncommon, and it is just scary
Right, this is the problem. I'm sure many of us would be happy to pay for someone to handle comprehensive photo storage the way Google Photos does. But Google can shut you out forever at any point without a warning, and it probably still is data-harvesting to bolster its services even with a paid version.