IT'S FIXED!
I was making a simple problem hard. It was indeed the issue with the wrong black wires tied together.
Thank you all for your input. I greatly appreciate it.
And I, in confusing the issue, extended the time to correct, my apologizes.
I should have asked you to pull the wire nutted groups out earlier.
What you have is a hot pair in the switch box and both the light and the fan should operate independently.
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