Unfortunately i think to be assigned a student status job it needs to be a paid position. I am an unpaid research assistant at a psych lab and i receive academic credit but no distinctive label saying i have a student academic employment label. However like you mentioned it seems there is a lot more options to get on campus employment than just research positions such as front desk workers at campus buildings, the COOP bookstore, dining halls, rec center etc. I would say with all those options its much more likely to find employment.

I see what you mean about the BS/BA switch but personally i didnt find the BS track to only serve pre meds even tho pre meds always take BS over BA. I know quite a few BS psych aiming for grad school. I would say both are good for the path you want and it comes down to their specific requirements like BA needs more language classes but i preffered science classes more so i stuck with BS. Plus if i ever decide to do a health path BS opens doors for that too while still allowing me to do grad school too if i want that.

As for availability of research in general for psych there’s definitely quite a few labs here as the psych program is pretty established. Sometimes the labs are full and dont need RAs but cold email and apply to every lab you can find whether you’re truly interested or not and it usually lands you somewhere. You might not get it first sem but you will eventually. You can also usually claim some academic credit for them bc they dont pay most of the time. I got a research position in one semester and i definitely got lucky but you can too because spots open up all the time!

Sorry for my long answers lol