Hello kyle@solarninjas,
Welcome to Community! I can see how beneficial it would be, to be able to enter contractors and pay them with QuickBooks Online Payroll. However, this is currently not available. If you would like to see this in future updates, please don't hesitate to submit a suggestion to the Development Team, by going to Settings ⚙ > Feedback. Recommendations are greatly appreciated, in helping us to improve your overall customer experience with QuickBooks Online.
As a workaround, you can add them as a supplier, and choose the option to track payments for tax purposes. I also suggest reviewing third party apps, for the best fit for your business needs.
If you have any other questions, feel free to touch base with us again. We would be happy to help!