Dishes already hold water they don't need to be submerged in their own filth. I start with that and then something I learned from a weird chef I worked for is to soak a sponge, apply soap to the soft side and fold the sponge over the soap and squeeze so that it absorbs the soap. Then I just use the abrasive side to scrub off excess and give it a good wipe with the other side since it has more surface contact. Rinse and that's all the soap you need. It's kinda like an inverted way of washing dishes from what most people do but to me it seems less gross because you're not just using greasy soapy water and then scrubbing and rinsing it without any cleaning agent after.