How do I get my career restarted after wrong turn?

Posting this from an Alt

A few years ago I switched out of the typical Helpdesk > Jr Admin > Admin career path to go to a less technical part of IT. I'm involved with internal software development (not a programmer), but I i just do not enjoy what I do. Pay is excellent, however. Recently some positions opened up for what I'd like to do - and I'm not even going to be considered for any of the positions. Helpdesk, JR Admin, anything. I just want a "real" IT job.

I have a 4 year degree in IT. Concentration on systems administration. I have had various tech positions over the years (about 7 years into my career).

I have a home lab set up where I try my best to keep current. At this point, it seems that the Home lab has been nothing but a waste of money on hardware and electricity. It counts for nothing as far as I can tell. It's been no use when speaking with recruitment for different companies.

I am too "experienced" for a helpdesk position, but not enough for a JR admin position.

What can I do - apart from going back to community college or something - to get myself back where I need to be? I've pulled all of my strings I can trying to get a basic helpdesk job and I just keep hitting dead ends.

I'm 100% prepared to take a pay cut and move back to square 1. Need help and suggestions! Or should I just start putting in applications to Walmart and Target for shelf stocking? Seems like that's all I have available at this point.