Hi @jennings,
These roles are suggestions by HubSpot and are standardized for all customers, so they work well for some and less well for others. I agree that this can feel inconsistent, for other clients this might be a good default selection.
The difference I see between tasks and notes is that notes would be a tool that users use to store information about records they don’t want to see widely accessed within the company. Tasks however do usually not have that aspect.
If you would like to request a change to this default role you could do so in the HubSpot Ideas section: https://community.hubspot.com/t5/HubSpot-Ideas/idb-p/HubSpot_Ideas
Keep in mind that you can always create custom permissions for individual users: Manage user permissions
In Enterprise subscriptions, users can create their own permission sets: Create and assign permission sets
It’s really just a suggestion / template, not meant to be an industry standard.
Best regards!