iOS mount point in macOS - Is there any way to access the iOS files in macOS directly?
In the past I was able to use iOS devices as USB drives.


You appear to be mistaken. This has never been possible without third-party software and/or jailbreaking.

It was possible to use older iPods in "disk mode" as storage devices. However, this feature was never available for the iPod Touch, nor for any version of the iPhone.

Some iOS applications support file transfer, and can have files transferred to them using iTunes. However, this feature is limited to specific file types, and does not appear as a USB storage device.