Your method seems daunting. There has to be an option to drop elements onto your background without them turning to smart object?
This is how I do it. I work with templates but it doesn't matter in that case.
I choose elements one at a time and place them directly onto my template. They do turn to smart object but it doesn't prevent me from using them. In the case that I need to delete some parts of it, then I rasterize it.
If I drag several at a time it still lets me resize them and place them before I accept its new settings then it goes to the next elements to resize etc...
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