The fact is, paying these workers much more would involve inflation and actually would increase poverty and economic misery. This is because while they would make more money, food would become more expensive that would end up driving everyone deeper into poverty, and in fact, these workers themselves because their increase pay would cause inflation, they would in reality see little or no real increase in their quality of living.
The idea you can solve this problem with pay increases is based on really, really bad economic thinking. What you will do is cause increased shortages, declines in living standards for everyone, inflation, all to save some lousy, menial, hellish jobs.
We need to embrace automation and the reality that as many jobs as possible should be automated and we can structure this economically to ensure that we have a ULI universal living income program that is humane and ensures an income for surplus workers. It can also lead to the possibility of shorter work weeks. Because automation should increase productivity, increased productivity can create more room in economic equations for a ULI for surplus workers. The more effective automation is in fact the more generous you can make the ULI program. On top of that you will end up with a highly reliable, dependable and stable supply chain that can scale well to meet human needs.
We of course will still need workers, often in technical fields, so we also need to invest in STEM education. Of course the need for workers will not go away completely. I know some people say that as jobs are automated new jobs will replace them. I actually don't agree with this, especially if automation is particularly successful that the rate jobs are automated would far exceed the ability for new jobs to be creared to replace them. In fact, I think we should see that as a success and embrace it since it will let us implement shorter workweeks, ULIs etc while having a very productive and bountiful supply chain to ensure a high standard of living. This is why automation is something we should not fear, if it is structured in a manner for the common good, it is what will lead to the most reductions in poverty and increased standard of living for all.