It might not be a bad thing if it did trigger a more above-board means of both paying for content and producing content that people want to pay for. At the moment it's a clickbait race to the bottom.
Also, bear in mind that we're having this discussion on an ad-free website.
Which job links are paid for on HN? That's news to me.
I have no problem with this actually, because such things are on a separate page and its obvious the content you are getting is relevant to you (unlike lots of online advertising). Good luck to pg and the devs and mods behind HN if they want to generate cash to keep the site going.
I think the parent post is talking about the occasional job ads for YC companies, in the normal link list on the front page. You can recognize them since they cannot be upvoted. It's not like they pay money I guess, but get visibility to find talented workers.
Also, bear in mind that we're having this discussion on an ad-free website.