What's insecure about setuid if the setuid user isn't a privileged user? For example, a setuid-nobody program, shouldn't be any more insecure than a systemd service spawned as User=nobody, no?
(Also, implied is that any untrusted logic lives in the spawned program, while the "client" program is simple and auditable. As I said: like a database client vs a database server. Or how about: like a client that wants to print something, vs. a print server embedding untrusted printer drivers!)