It's nothing like a landlord, as the person living in the apartment owns said apartment. The owner makes the money off it when it's next sold.

While often HOAs are abusive, and I don't want to ever be a part of one, I also don't want to live in a condo/apartment again. Someone needs to take care of the building, so they set up HOAs which, when run well, are democratic. You elect the board, you can go to the meetings and make your voice heard. If you speak well you can convince all the people in the building to get behind the idea you're championing. Condos require a Home Owner's Association due to the fact that no one person should get to dictate how the common area is run, and no one should be on the hook to fix, say, an elevator. Everyone pays dues, and those dues pay for the repairs.

If people elect to hire a company to be the head of the HOA, well they're choosing to be lazy, and for that reason, the HOA will be paying the company to run it's affairs. If the HOA is run by the residents, no money is going to enrich any one person, the money is being used to enrich everyone that lives there, through keeping the building in good shape to raise the value of their personal property.