> the only practical option

The actual practical option people end up using in practice (speaking as someone who've moved around in Europe, working for various other European companies) is that you ask them to self-employ in the country they live, then you treat them as contractors, offset any extra costs that'd come with compared to full-time, and do the best you can with that.

It's not ideal, and not a real solution by wide margin, and there is plenty of stuff that can get better, but I think it's the most "practical" and pragmatic option you can make use of today.

Yes, but some companies need employees on paper. When they do custom based software and want to apply for a job, there is often a number of heads you need to employ.