This is not quite universal! My wife in particular does not like assigning people on how to help her, as that is additional cognitive load on how to make someone useful to you, she much prefers people either stay out of her way, or help by just looking with their eyes and see what needs to be done.
Do agree they need to know what they are doing too, having someone who doesn't know how to chop veggies the way you like them and just start doing is definitely no good, but after sometime cooking with your partner you should know what needs doing and how to do it.
Definitely it's gonna vary by person, by a lot of it is about approach.
It's still always going to be better to ask someone if they want you to complete a specific task, rather than what you can do to help.
This is also probably vary a little by culture as some people are not comfortable saying no to offers of help, even if they don't want.
Everyone is different, and everyone has different experiences, so definitely be mindful of all of these things in how you approach this.
That being said, many American men in particular seem to be guilty of this lack of thought, thinking they are be useful by offering help but not realizing that managing them is its own task.