Almost all manufacturing can be automated, so it is just as much "something to fear" as automation is in service economies.
Service economies are actually more cushioned: almost no one cares if his smartphone has been assembled by a robot or a kindly old gentleman, almost everyone cares if there is no one to speak to about his undercooked burger or his noisy hotel neighbor.
Humans will prefer to talk to a human about many service requests or problems than to Siri.
You’re right. A lot of jobs of the future will be human interfacing. After all, do you want a human nanny who teaches the kid true social skills, or a robot one that can be shut down by a hacker or just teach the kid a ton of cuss words?
Just because Japan is working on home care robots doesn’t mean the elderly want them - and if there is a huge number of unemployed people, there are certainly enough caregivers to hire to take care of them.
The Great Shift Toward Automation and the Future of Employment
http://tamarawilhite.hubpages.com/hub/The-Great-Shift-and-the-Future-of-Employment