Makes a great deal of sense. It was basically the original idea (when compose was fig). Oftentimes though, people cling desperately and aggressively to existing complex systems...
Kubernetes may be a system that invites overcomplication, but it in no way requires it— in a world where anyone can run k3s or microk8s on their own laptop and a Kubernetes hello-world is like 10 lines of yaml, I don't think it's a stretch to posit that that's the interface that makes sense to use up and down the stack.