adding markup where I don't want it to…?

After each label there is a closing </p> for some reason..?

FYI, here is the output in view source:

<div class="form-group">
  <label class="col-md-4 control-label" for="selectbasic">Reason for Inquiry</label></p>
<div class="col-md-6">
    <span class="wpcf7-form-control-wrap contact_reason"><select name="contact_reason" class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-select wpcf7-validates-as-required form-control" id="contact_reason" aria-required="true" aria-invalid="false"></select></span>
  </div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
  <label class="col-md-4 control-label" for="textinput">Your Name</label>  </p>
<div class="col-md-6"> <span class="wpcf7-form-control-wrap contact_name"><input type="text" name="contact_name" value="" size="40" class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text wpcf7-validates-as-required form-control" aria-required="true" aria-invalid="false" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
  <label class="col-md-4 control-label" for="textinput">Email Address</label>  </p>
<div class="col-md-6"><span class="wpcf7-form-control-wrap contact_email"><input type="email" name="contact_email" value="" size="40" class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text wpcf7-email wpcf7-validates-as-required wpcf7-validates-as-email form-control" id="contact_email" aria-required="true" aria-invalid="false" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
  <label class="col-md-4 control-label" for="textinput">Phone</label>  </p>
<div class="col-md-6">
<span class="wpcf7-form-control-wrap contact_phone"><input type="tel" name="contact_phone" value="" size="40" class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text wpcf7-tel wpcf7-validates-as-tel form-control" id="contact_phone" aria-invalid="false" /></span>
  </div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
  <label class="col-md-4 control-label" for="Details">Details</label></p>
<div class="col-md-4">
    <span class="wpcf7-form-control-wrap contact_details"><textarea name="contact_details" cols="40" rows="10" class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-textarea wpcf7-validates-as-required form-control" id="contact_details" aria-required="true" aria-invalid="false"></textarea></span>
  </div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
  <label class="col-md-4 control-label" for="button1id"></label></p>
<div class="col-md-8">
 <input type="submit" value="Send Inquiry" class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-submit btn btn-primary" id="contact_btn" />
  </div>
</div>
</fieldset>

Hi!

Try removing the <p> -tags by adding this on a separate line in your wp-config.php (in your root catalog where you installed WordPress):

define( 'WPCF7_AUTOP', false );

You can remove the WPCF7 JS and CSS by writing that instead of AUTOP (autoparagraph).

Good luck,
T

RE: why couldn’t there be an option to send plain text for the formatting versus having it run through the filters?

There is – see https://contactform7.com/controlling-behavior-by-setting-constants/