It depends on what the purpose of the perception check, and in many ways the function of the skill system is. For systems where the checks determine "do you succeed at X", they aren't as useful for the style of game you're looking at. But what players are generally looking for with perception checks is not whether or not they succeed at spotting something, but to get more information about things. So lean into that instead of just "you spot X". When they succeed at a check, let them ask questions about their surrounding. "Tell me more about X", or "how could I use Y to my advantage", or "what here is useful or valuable to me?".
Same goes for "insight" checks and knowledge checks too, though obviously with a different angle on what kinds of questions are asked.
At the same time not everyone wishes to prod around each part of a room specifically, and instead abstract things to rolls. That's not wrong either, nor is it necessarily less interesting. Just a different focus of interest.