Corporations were always maximally greedy, but there were times where the markets were not 200% saturated and new demand did not had to be created artificially by mass indoctrination.
I mean, everybody who have seen their neighbor's electric / gas stove wanted one for themselves very quickly to avoid the need to lug wood. And when radio and TV came? Don't even get me started. Fridge, washing machine, dishwasher, vacuum cleaner, camera, car, phone, portable music player, PC, laptop, cell phone...
It all sells / sold really easily just by word of mouth and you just needed to run slightly faster than competitors to capture higher portion of the market. So the incentives were mostly aligned and capitalism delivered value (in those areas).
Now there is no easy way to create a good or service that will instantly save multiple hours per week for almost everybody. No easy way to make luxuries of past like having oneself painted or being served a meal (women must have loved that) available to masses. But still, some that provide meager improvements managed to take off. Robotic vacuums, food (and grocery) delivery services come to mind.
Hence the rush to convert the market shares into an enduring rent.
Eventually corporate landlords will realize that they have the ultimate power and just tax everyone so high that only the basic subsistence is possible, with zero luxury. Maybe then the public will finally reconsider the arrangement.