I wonder if Google will support a workflow for users "leaving", whereby the can keep their "Google Account" under the same email address, but with Gmail disabled.
This could be a reasonably low friction way to keep the system working without breaking the "email address is unchangeable per-account" assumption - the underlying Google account can continue to exist, even if the associated MX record disappears, or Google Workspace ceases to provide service.
This is how Google accounts work today if you ignore the "default" sign-up path, and take the route where you create a Google account under an existing external email address.