Payroll in Quickbooks will run without a subscription.  It just will not automatically figure the taxes.  You have to enter them manually.  My employee is salaried so the taxes are the same each month.  I use the tables in the tax guides every January to find the tax entries.  Then I use the same numbers each month.  I print the payroll checks in QB and it gives a pay stub with current and YTD amounts.  It would be somewhat of a hassle with several hourly employees where the tax amounts are different each pay period, but it would work.  To sum up, the payroll parts of QB can be used with a a separate payroll subscription.  I am using Quickbooks Desktop Pro 2019.