I had it on my 360, it didn't require Steam on that. I ended up buying the PC version through Steam - if you can't beat them, join them, lol.
I prefer my saying; if you canīt beat them, at least give em hell

Like you, I hate Steam, hate having to go through them for the Skyrim game I bought at a store.
I can see having to go through Steam for the games I bought from them, but the ones I bought at Best Buy or GameStop I expect to be able to play without their help. To this day it bothers me that Bethesda has paired with them this way.
But I can't make myself not buy Bethesda games, either. I don't want to be the only one not playing Fallout 4 on release date. If that means playing through Steam, I'll still want to be one of the first people in the US to play it.
Skyrim - I bought Skyrim at 2 minutes after midnight (because some people were in the "prepaid" line in front of me) and I flew home like I was driving a jet plane instead of an SUV. I was installing Skyrim 10 minutes after midnight on 11/11/2011; and playing it by 17 minutes after midnight.
I always liked having a disk in my hands on all my games, but there is something to be said for the convenience of being able to shop for video games while sitting on my couch and then play them within minutes of buying them.
And I don't mind going through Steam for the games I bought from them. When my 360 and Fallout 3 (XBox 360 disk) broke last year - I really struggled with whether to buy another 360 console (knowing they would soon be coming out with the next gen) and another Fallout 3 game; or to just buy it on Steam and be able to play it in minutes on my PC (and be able to mod it too!!!)
Then Steam had its Thanksgiving sale, and I got the Fallout 3 GOTY; Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate; and Skyrim Legendary (so all the DLC on all three games) - all for 33.00 US. Couldn't beat the price, and was playing the game in minutes without leaving my house. I fixed myself a snack while the games downloaded.
Now, I still want nothing to do with Steam, even with these games I bought from them; so I keep Steam in Offline mode all the time unless I need something, then I log into it.