Hiring professional chefs is actually a great parallel. "Chop an onion" or "make a french omelette" are basic tests that even the most experienced chefs being hired for top positions will have to go through.

"But this isn't relevant to my job, a subordinate will always do this kind of stuff."

"We are a fine dining dinner restaurant, I'll never need to make an omelette."

Doesn't matter, make a damn omelette. If you can't, you aren't suited to be a head chef, or any other kind of chef.

Knowing basic data structures and algorithms and having problem solving skills is absolutely critical to a software engineering job. In fact it is the entire job.