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In "The Apple", Kirk threatens to "fire" Scotty. Does that mean that within the early days of Starfleet that being 'court-martialled' was only a term for being brought before the "big boss" or Human Resources.
Can Starfleet officers and crewmen simply be dismissed?
In "The Apple" Kirk is clearly making a joke. If Scotty doesn't get the engines going he'll be dead in a few hours. Being fired is the least of his troubles!
As has been pointed out before, although Starfleet isn't a military organisation per se, they do have many of the same trappings including a robust court martial system so his being 'fired' (in the sense of summarily dismissing him) doesn't appear to be a real option available to Kirk.
Star Trek has shown a progression of Star Fleet through the series. Enterprise shows a very Nasa like component, While TOS is slightly more formal navy, and TNG era is strictly military format, even if they won't say it straight out. They have enlisted personal and commissioned officers. And they have their entire disciplinary process modeled after military tradition.
This includes marks on service records, demotions in rank, court martials, and finally discharges.
An example of a court martial is scene in the TNG episode Drum head, the meaning of which is a field court martial. And in one of the TOS movies, where Admiral Kirk is being court marshalled for his actions, and punished with a demotion to captain. An example of dishonorable discharge is seen in Voyager with Tom Paris.
Obviously Kirk meant fired in dark humor, making light of a dangerous situation as he always does (not mockingly or sarcastic, just a light hearted half joke).
Aside from the fact that the phrase was clearly used in a joking way (what court would convict someone for not being able to break a ship out out of a tractor beam?), a court-martial isn't necessary to remove someone from their position.
Under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a superior is allowed to demote those under hir command or suspend them from duty entirely as well as dole out other extrajudicial punishments for minor offenses. As Starfleet is organizationally modeled partly after the U.S. Navy, it makes sense that Kirk would also have similar authority to discipline his crew and demote personnel without a court-martial.
Likewise, a summary court-martial for minor offenses can also be conducted by any officer with immediate jurisdiction over the person being tried. So Kirk could perform a summary court-martial by himself without involving anyone else.
Given the number of times we saw someone do something that waranted incarceration or firing, but the person wasn't, I'm going to say no. The following people did things that should have resulted in them being fired, but weren't.
Leah Brahms: She designed the Enterprise D propulsion systems. The nacelles of the Enterprise will blow up the entire ship if they encounter a low speed collision. That's criminally incompetent design work, and she ought to have been fired. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Leah_Brahms https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Cause_and_Effect_(episode)
Ben Sisko poisoned a inhabited planet as a gambit to arrest a thief. I'd fire a person for committing such a felony. uhttps://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/For_the_Uniform_(episode)
T'Pol "Yes, she was a field recruit, but she counts", should have been fired for stealing starfleet property, and getting high on the job. I would fire an employee for either of these things. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/T%27Pol https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Damage_(episode)
I've skipped the Voyager ones, because firing someone just wasn't practical there.
