Run KDE applet from command line (within i3wm)
After a thorough study on KDE5 API, I found the answer to my own question. To start kicker (Application Menu) form within a command line WITHOUT starting the whole KDE desktop, simply run:
plasmawindowed org.kde.plasma.kicker
We can also run a lot of other plasmoids. To see a list of all plasmoids installed, run both of the following:
kpackagetool5 --list --type Plasma/Applet -g # system wide
kpackagetool5 --list --type Plasma/Applet # current user
Here is the API page: https://techbase.kde.org/Development/Tutorials/Plasma5/QML2/GettingStarted
Here is a more complete API page: https://techbase.kde.org/KDE_System_Administration/PlasmaDesktopScripting