I do this on my Macs. Windows and KDE also have the option. GNOME stopped doing desktop icons by default ages ago. It's such a better experience IMO.

I have Desktop added as one of those fan-out folders in the MacOS Dock so it's really easy to drag-n-drop the newest screenshot to GitLab etc.

I did something similar: make the Desktop read-only. Handy if you still want things on it

Nice. Does this persist after upgrades?

Yep. I've been doing this for years. It changes a plist file in your home dir somewhere if I remember correctly.