Not sure why everyone knocks "pay to play" exactly. it's a question of economics. SOMEONE has to pay for your kid to play, be it the rec players paying extra so that the academy players get a free ride, or a sponsorship deal, or the MLS team, but that only goes so far. field usage costs money, uniforms, etc. If you have a full time coach, they generally get paid as well. Not everyone is financially in a position to be able to run 4-5 practices a week + games on the weekend and have a flexible enough regular work schedule to do so.
Now the quality of coaching being worth that "salary" is a whole different story. When your coach spends half of his time staring at his phone instead of coaching, it's probably a good idea to start looking elsewhere