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Are the joys and complexities of "braided",or interwoven plot lines, and sub plots going out of style ? Are audiences demanding more "simplified" plots ? If so, I would be worried.

Depends quite a bit of what you look for, and how.
Sure, the same could be valid for drama - compare any non-Almodovar movie and sure, there is "less drama".
Sure, there is "less complex" crime and thrillers that sells a lot. Only because not every single crime author has the complexity of Robert Ludlum, Michael Connelly, Jo Nesbø, Eric Van Lustbader, or Clive Cussler. They sure do - since it's only a handful of authors who do get to that kind of complexity.

I'd like to think of it the other way around.

It's like chocolate.
Even ten years ago, most chocolate was just average. Green & Black's was at least for me a gateway drug to good chocolates. Now I find plenty (but I also know where to look for them).
The taste of really good chocolate is complex.
Like the taste of really good wines or whiskeys (which will not work as an example, because there have been good examples of both for a long time).
An average or mediocre chocolate will still get some satisfaction when you need or crave for chocolate. Yet when you have discovered the really nice, dark, complex ones, you'll likely leave all the Hersheys on the shelf for the others to enjoy.

Similarly there are gateway drug authors to good, complex books.
For me they are mostly the ones mentioned above, because I like complex plots, spy stories, outrageous conspiracies, manly details, and many many many dark twists in them.

And sure, I find mostly anything compared to those authors to be less complex (and more plain).

But on the same hand, I can't think of any authors BEFORE those who would give the same satisfaction of complexity, action, and, well, testosterone all over.

Just like I can't think of a really good chocolate before I first discovered G&B Maya Gold (and now it wouldn't make my chocolate top 10).

Also a point with chocolates... the mediocre Hersheys sell a lot more in volume. You can't compare a chocolate bar that sells for $2 to one that goes for $10 for the same size; unless you have tried a good one, why would you fork out $10 for a bar of chocolate when you could get a piece of Hershey's for way cheaper?

Similarly, not all the published (and self-published) authors have what it takes to become the next Luslum, Cussler, Connelly, Nesbø etc. Most will be good enough, around for a while, and - well, not every book published will become immortal. And not every drama out there will outshine Almodovar (in fact, I can't think of any drama that will have more drama than an Almodovar movie).

Of all the newcomers last year, I can think of only two that gave me the satisfaction of multiple layers, complexity, awesome characters etc etc to perfection. (The Summer of Dead Toys: A Thriller and The Andalucian Friend - can't wait for the other two of that trilogy).

It's the readers that read that are getting more sophisticated and specialized in their reading that make the change. :)
Because after finding a complex type of plot and many good authors using those successfully, why would you go back to the less complex?

Thank you for the wine and chocolate analogies. That sounds like the best explanation that I have recieved to date.