As someone who is a T-in-training, I do think there is a sense in which therapy is renting out love. As a T, during session you need to put aside whatever judgments you might have about your client and focus on your desire to help that person and how to accomplish that, and you could see that as a kind of love. But I don't think it's love in the ordinary sense and I don't think that's most of what you are paying for, either.

Without having trained as a T, it is probably not clear to people how very different it is to be talking to a friend than to a client. Let's say I go out to lunch with a friend. First of all, I can expect to spend at least half the time talking about my own life and problems, something that I would never do in session with a client. Second, I don't have to keep any records about the conversation, or do any paperwork about it, nor do I have to keep anything from it confidential, all things I would be obligated to do with a client. Third, I can expect that my friend probably isn't going to spend the whole conversation talking about all the worst things that have ever happened to her in her whole life or her most shameful secrets, etc. Fourth, I can respond to whatever she says naturally, without having to focus all my attention on responding in the most therapeutic way possible. If I need to take a phone call or text while in the middle of a conversation with my friend, it wouldn't be considered totally egregious. If my friendship with my friend breaks down, I don't have any obligation to work it out with her or to refer her to another professional. If I say or do the wrong thing to my friend, I can't be reported for it and risk losing my entire career.

In a nutshell, I know that I am a good friend, and it is possible that given the chance, someone might want pay by the hour for me to interact with them as a friend (although I would not be comfortable with this arrangement and I'm pretty sure it couldn't work out). But it wouldn't be therapy or even closely resemble it.