Unable to Hire Ranch Hand

You said that turning mods off completely does make the option appear though, correct? So it sounds like it is something in your mods/cc.

You’ve removed all script mods and deleted the cache? Then yes, time to start testing the rest of it. Try the 50/50 method. Take out half of what’s left, and test again. If the option appears, put back half of what you took out and test again; if it doesn’t, take out half of what’s left. Repeat until you’ve narrowed down which mod/cc is causing it.