I don't think anybody would call physics "useless," but it is a simple fact that there have always been more jobs for engineers than for physicists. It is also true that many physics majors wind up in engineering jobs, but is that the best way to get there? Some might say "yes," but I think not.
If I may speak personally for a moment, one of my first industrial jobs carried the title "Senior Staff Physicist," even though all of my degrees are in engineering. In that company, and in countless others as well, the title "Engineer" meant project engineer, the person who was responsible for a particular contract fulfillment. When they wanted someone who could handle higher math and advanced classical physics, that person was, by definition called a "Physicist." My predecessor in the position had been a Dutch physicist (he died in the job), but I was entirely able to step in and pick up the work and carry it to conclusion.
A BS in Engineering typically prepares a person to become a project engineer, which means some minimal amount of applied physics, and a whole lot of project management (facilities, scheduling, budgets, etc). If you want to do something more involved with the theoretical side, even if it is also experimental such as being a test engineer, then I strongly recommend getting an MS. This will mark you as a person with much more solid physics background.
