These are tired old arguments and at least in the way you're trying to convey not true, and you're comparing it to ED?
Cargo hauling / trading:
You're pressing buttons on a screen to start and pressing more buttons on screens at the other end to complete it, that's it and its true for both, at least in SC you get to squeeze you're way around the side of your cargo in the cargo bay, just that already makes it more involved.
Run of the mill go kill missions:
Again both have them, with both the more you do the more difficult they become as you rank up your rep, i do find the way you have to search for wanted NPC's in ED more involved, however if there is a bounty on a real player that changes the dynamics entirely, especially if you're the one being hunted, you can even hide from those hunting you by shutting down com arrays in the sector you're doing your illegal stuff in, however doing that will pint point you to the array for the time that you're there and it takes a little while to turn it off, that's quite dynamic, it gives you a real sense of trepidation.
All that is entirely missing from ED, its not really even a MP game.
Mining game loops:
Ground and space, both are quite involved, mini games with in a game, i don't think one mechanic is better than the other SC vs ED but personally i prefer SC's mechanics, i also like that fact that you have to take your ores to a space station where you can chose to sell it on the spot or have it refined in a verity of different ways for higher profit margins.
Salvaging:
ED doesn't have this at all, you strip the hull of a wrecked ship and sell the collected materials, three ways you can do this, one is just fly around and sometimes come across a ship wreck, player ship wrecks persist and there is always known places you can find those, or buy a contract for the location of a ship wreck, strip the hull for profit and if you're lucky its also crying valuable cargo, i like doing this as a relaxing pass time.
And more.... but i want to get on to...
Dynamic events:
In 40 years of gaming i have rarely had so much fun and been so immersed as i have been playing the Xeno Threat event.
A large group of bad people try to invade Stanton, there is a UEE cap ship docked at a station, it needs supplies, supply ships are taken out by Xeno and you have to go fight them off first in space and then on board the cargo ships they wrecked, once you're done that you have to transfer its cargo from the wrecked ship to yours, by hand on foot and EVA and deliver it to the cap ship, quite often through a 650KM gauntlet where NPC and sometime real pirates are trying to stop you, one the cap ship is resupplied it comes out to play, you fight the Xeno along side it in a huge space battle.
Not only is it a huge amount of fun its also successfully designed where the whole server come together and work together to achieve the goals, perfect strangers instinctively team up just because you're near by because you have to work together to get it done.
Another one is Jump Town, a felicity is producing extremely valuable illegal product and your job is to either take contracts to stop people from getting that product or be the one trying to get it, it creates the conditions for a literal war. Its a lot of fun. Video example of that below.
Again there is more of that ^^^ and more to come.
Just watch this, yes it done and edited in a story fashion but the gameplay in it as real.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53qGEaPRHCQ