Several books, with same setting and characters. Read online, recently, after 2017.
The junkyard is on a spacestation owned and run by an AI. More recently created AIs have robot bodies. The dog gets reincarnated. Many planets have bans on most technology.
Most planets have dogs. A particular breed of dog is almost always re-incarnated. An alien monastery breeds the puppies and when they are old enough help them set out on a journey across space. They are seeking their friends from their previous lifetime. They carry a dog bowl as a begging bowl. Many people offer them lifts to aid in their search.
Two young human girls become immensely rich setting up a business babysitting for any species. Babysitting was previously unknown in the alien societies. Even species with practically indestructible offspring employ a babysitter as company for the child.
The protagonist hires a babysitter for her young daughter. An alien turns up from the company. The babysitter hears the mother joking that her daughter is so sweet she is going to eat her all up. Concerned for the child's safety, the babysitter refuses to return her to her parents and calls in the managers to protect their fellow human. The mother is incredibly embarrassed. The management say, yes it was a misunderstanding, but the babysitter did the right thing. When in doubt she prioritised the well-being of the child.It is even more embarrassing that the management judging whether she is a safe person to look after her child are her best friend's teenage daughters.
Teenagers from various species, including humans, work together at the spacestation's lost property office. They keep items for thousands of years, after all some beings have very long lives.
There is a huge spaceship controlled by an alien AI called Flower. She lost the confidence of her builders thousands of years ago. She was instructed to carry terraformers and supplies to a certain planet. She took them to another planet she thought was much nicer instead. Nobody realised until the terraforming was well underway. Flower now travels in a circuit calling periodically at planets and space stations. She insists all her passengers and crew get up at 8am and do excerises together in the corridor outside their cabin. The ship,Flower, employs a Korean human to be her captain. She insists he wear a fancy uniform with gold braid and a hat. If he doesn't wear the hat, Flower pretends not to be able to hear anything he says to her. The Korean captain is an old friend of the junkyard owner. The Korean used to lead the mercenary group the junkyard owner belonged to.
There is a species of aliens evolved from trees. They refuse to use or touch paper, or to eat seeds or grains. "Grains!" is an expletive in their society .
Another species has settled many planets. They are matriarchal and have royal families. The species name is something like Vergallian. Upper class females can use their pheromones to force men(including human men)to do their bidding. Of course, such coercion is frowned upon, but some powerful queens use the power regularly. Ballroon dancing is an important part of their culture. Many children study dancing for hours each day. These aliens have set up some popular schools teaching ballroom dancing on Earth.Many of their planets have bans on technology. There are exceptions, life saving medical technology is permitted, for example. They ride horses and fight with medieval weapons. Many humans join their armies as mercenaries. When travelling between planets, modern spacecraft are permitted.
There are a species of aliens with 4 arms and two thumbs on each hand. Theirs princes are great merchants and skilled engineers. Many humans work for them. The alien labour laws mean that humans employed by aliens usually get far better pay and conditions that those working for human beings. Some human beings show great admiration and loyalty towards their alien employers. One human wears prosthetic extra thumbs and says I am Prince D......'s man through and through.
One species of aliens are extraordinarily gifted mathematicians. Mathematics is of great importance in their culture. They move very slowly compared with humans. Two members of this mathematically gifted species visit Earth as tourists. They get scammed. A short human pretends to be a human child incapable of doing simple arithmetic. Another pretends to be his teacher. The aliens donate money towards mathematical education for the 'poor backward' humans.