I agree with you. The dish was traditionally part of a laborers’ meal, and before the economy took off in the last 25 years, there was a lack of money for ‘fancier’ ingredients. Oil was used liberally as a source of calorie.
Now people, especially in the Shanghai area, has more money for better nutrition, there isn’t a need to cook with a bunch of oil any more. But I think some people may be conditioned to think the vegetable salted pork rice, or perhaps the cuisine around that area, should be oily.
