The problem with these economicist "stories," as they call them, is that people (including economists themselves) believe them too much.
Once stories like this are embedded in the way we think, we constantly see ways of interpreting the world in a reinforcing way. Every case of inefficiency is found to be an example of principal-agent problems.
Not specifically a Friedman problem or a laissez-faire problem.
I definitely agree. The public reaction to how "someone else's money is spent on someone else" is sometimes very passionate.
e.g. feelings about government funding for the proposed border wall, support for Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, Planned Parenthood, prisons, police military-grade weaponry, etc
At the very least, in cases where value systems and ethical considerations come into play, people are extremely concerned about how government spends other people's money on other people.
Furthermore, people have efficiency concerns: plenty of people in big cities like Los Angeles are very concerned about the way the city spends its money in general, given the state of the roads and streets, levels of crime and traffic, mediocre education, etc