How to have an efficient Tilemap Z-order / depth?

I have spent a good chunk of time reading everything I could find on the forum, but I couldn't find anything that would really help me figure this out without complicating things.

Is there an efficient way to use tilemaps only when I try to achieve tilemap depth? I want players walking in front or behind an object. I achieved something by putting 2 tilemaps on 2 different layers (above and below the player) but I find myself in a situation where the player often clips through that method.

I could use sprites for objects instead of tilemaps, but is that going to hinder my performance? There are quite a lot of objects in scenes I plan to do and I'd rather use tilemaps if possible. I also tried changing the Z-order of the tilemap, but it affects all objects on the tilemap as a whole.

Tilemaps for walls, terrain, etc. Tiled bg for repeating textures. Sprites for objects.

Static objects usually aren't the issue, its when they move.

Typically you can have hundreds if not thousands of objects without issue, depending on the hardware.

I see. They are 99% static, so I think I'll try turning them into sprites instead. Thanks for the swift reply and the help.