This is where the conversation gets really interest, because in an mmo there is utility to allowing an npc to take your place when you're offline such as a market bott selling for you.
However, it should be exactly that, the market ai are, bots, they are simply market bots that link to the global or galactic market in a way only NQ can keep track of.
But everything else can be lua scripted, local sales of items, ship command, repair services, everything except mining can be made with LUA to do a job in sequence.