I'm not a big people person so if I were to start picking up rentals, I'd seriously consider using a property management service in handling all of the tenant issues.  How much of the issues that arise from tenants do the property managers handle before they would have to escalate the problems to me?

It all depends on what you want your property manager to do for you. You can have them do everything or the minimum. I require my PM to call/text/or email me to authorize any repairs and status updates, and all tenants are screened by her (income verification, employment verification, credit reports, rental and evictions history) but I make the final decision to allow the tenant to rent my unit. But I don't call the tenants and they don't call me. I just manage my PM so I am not an absentee owner.

Big Hello from Michigan! As a Property Manager, we take care of all issues from monthly payments to major repairs. Property Managers should be in contact with you biweekly at the least to inform you about your property. Most companies will only contact you in regards to repairs, monthly rent payments, and confirming cost of repairs, etc. But, they may do something different in Indiana. 

It really depends on the property manager and the contract. I would definitely recommend you read one really closely. My husband is active duty and I work full time. I looked into hiring a property manager, and realized that with all the costs. It made sense to figure out how to do it myself. The managers we looked into  charged alot for the handling of maintenance and property maintenance calls etc.