The answer is that there is no way to do what I’m asking, at least, there’s no simple/easy way. Pieter Goosen writes in their comment above:
Styling is theme territory, not
plugins, and that is where your tables should be. The best possible
solution is a shortcode if you need this to be in a plugin.
I would add to this that custom templates are also an option, but further blur the line between themes and plugins.
The WordPress documentation isn’t clear on this. It seems to be a grey area.
WordPress allows us to create custom post types and custom taxonomies but because that data can be anything, there’s no standardized way of using that data across themes other than to treat it like any other post, category, or tag … even if the data doesn’t make sense to be treated that way.
Aside: As a first time questioner, I’m disappointed by the regulars I’ve interacted with here so far and hope that my future questions are either answered/commented on by more open and welcoming folks or are not answered/commented on at all. I wish someone who had experience writing a plugin with similar functionality would’ve answered. But, since this is my first question and it is broad, it’s likely my fault. It’s another RTFM situation. 🙁 I was hoping the WordPress developer community was more welcoming than that.