A floating hardwood (engineered hardwood then becomes the normal choice) will eliminate ALL of this! And paying for subfloor preparation is part and parcel of your project. If the concrete floor is 'bumpy' then simply pay to have it ground down/filled in (we call it 'leveling') and have the floor you want.

Gluing down a wood floor onto concrete is *possible but it goes wrong SOOOOOO often (how often SJ?) that it is pretty much a guaranteed mess. Which is why god/man created floating flooring. Floating simply means 'unattached'. A floated hardwood (usually engineered hardwood) will sit over top of a vapour barrier (6mil or 10mil polyethylene sheeting = $0.15/sf).

And PLEASE do NOT use 'wood look' anything next to real wood. A beautiful slate tile in the entrance way will look GORGEOUS next to hardwood. If you lay 'wood look tile' next to real wood you will make your home look like it is all 'fake'. Which is not something most people want. A purposefully installed tile/stone in an entrance way is gorgeous and is a way to separate small areas to show 'purpose' (like where to leave your wet boots).

And PLEASE do NOT let a General Contractor lay your flooring. Please, oh please, let a professional wood flooring installer deal withe the floors. And PLEASE make sure you have the budget to fix concrete slab ($1-$4/sf is the normal range). Carpets hide the WORST subfloors in the world (that's why builders LOVE carpet...it hides EVERYTHING).

To put down a rigid floor (regardless of vinyl, hardwood, laminate, cork, etc) you MUST HAVE the subfloor fixed. Laying plywood is the 'lazyman's' option. Proper floor leveling (bought and paid for by the homeowner) is the RIGHT WAY to do it...which every hardwood flooring installer will insist upon (many do it themselves because they WANT to do it right...because they HATE call-backs for poorly installed floors).

If you estimate (on the high-end) $3/sf for the concrete leveling you should be safe. And to be clear, the cost of plywood is $1/sf and the cost of the MOISTURE BLOCKING adhesive is $2/sf (has to be used over concrete when gluing down ANY WOOD!) you can see there isn't much difference between 'doing it wrong' and 'doing it right'.