Under current laws you are correct but I think he is trying to highlight the point that maybe the laws shouldn't have this dichotomy and we should recognize there are instances where not being a full employee yet not filling the exact current definition of a contractor should exist
The reason these laws exist is because corporations will use them to reclassify the maximum number of employees possible as contractors, so they can avoid a whole host of legal constraints around employment.
In general, flexibility in classification of workers almost always plays out poorly for the majority of workers.
