The difference as I see it is that electrical engineers are expected to have a deep knowledge of advanced mathematics, EM fields, semiconductors, control theory, electronics, etc. However, software engineers are not expected to have a deep knowledge of algorithms, category theory, formal languages, etc.

Effectively, companies treat Software Engineers like Electricians not like Electrical Engineers.

More like they hire electricians but expect them to do electrical engineering. In a way, despite the name, a rigorous discipline of software engineering doesn't really exist yet. Or it does (cf. "The Right Stuff", Space Shuttle software), but the tradeoffs for that kind of rigor are not or don't seem favorable.