Welcome to the Community, @wells225. I appreciate you sharing your detailed concern.

There's no need to add the owner as an employee to set up Salary Checks, instead, we can set up and pay an owner's draw.

An owner's draw account is an equity account used by QuickBooks Online to track withdrawals of the company's assets to pay an owner. Let's get this setup started. 

Initially, you'll want to create an Owner's Equity account first in the Chart of Accounts before you can pay an Owner's draw. Afterward, you're ready to pay the owner, create a regular check-in QuickBooks, not through payroll, and be sure to affect the Owners Equity account you created.

Here's how:

1. Go to + New, then select Check.
2. From the Payee dropdown, select who you want to address the check.
3. On the Bank Account dropdown, select the account you want the money to come from.
4. Fill out the rest of the fields accordingly.
5. (Optional) You can skip this step if you only want to record a check. But if you plan to print the check, you can choose to print it now or later.
6. Please know that if you need to reuse a check number, uncheck the Print Later checkbox. When you save the check, confirm that you’re aware the check number already exists.
7.  Then hit Save and close.

Lastly, I'm also adding here some articles that you can check out about adding a partner to your books, or recoding an owner's contribution:

• Learn how to record capital investments to track money going into your business
• Add an owner or partner to your books

Please don't hesitate to send a reply if there are any additional questions about paying an owner. Have a lovely day!