“Economic dependency” is at the core of it: if a worker “depends” on the company they’re an employe, if not–a contractor.

British neoliberal colonialism finally comes home?

"Historical Roots of Famine Relief Paradigms: Ideas on Dependency and Free Trade in India in the 1870s" https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-7717.1996.tb01035.x