Or do they usually come with a financial compensation for the burden involved?

A well-executed STR investment won't take much management effort, but it is more work than LTR and you should be compensated for that.I've been exceeding 30% CoC for all my STRs in Northern California and the Midwest thus far.

I recommend clearly defining each person's contribution and compensation for each contribution up front, in writing.

Would you be willing to provide a copy of your GC License, your Certificate of General Liability Insurance, and your Certificate of Workman's Compensation Insurance?

Her earnings were reported in block 7, "non employee compensation" on the 1099 MISC. 

In short, you can NOT get compensated from a real estate deal outside of the brokerage (barring a personal investment that you sell) if you have a real estate license.

What compensation, ownership types, and operations sharing duties work best?

How do you compensate them? 

I'm hoping for enough volume to compensate for any skimpy commissions.

Phone systems, on-call Contractors, website, accounting, monthly statements, inspections - if you aren't willing to be 100% hands-on with your Investment, you're going to have to understand the need to compensate a capable PM to handle these things for you on a daily basis.I get it that you've had some bad experiences with Property Managers - but when you say "EVERY ONE of them is..." you do a dis-service to the Landlord/Investor community.