Laravel job executing real time without queue being started

Running on Laravel 5.8 I am creating a large number of Jobs which I believe should be executed once the queue has been initiated. My issue is that the jobs get executed then and there when I haven't even started the queue.

They are not even being inserted in to the jobs table created by the migration.

Below are the settings and the piece of code I believe is relevant. Please let me know if more info is needed.

On a fresh installation:

php artisan queue:table
php artisan migrate

.env file

QUEUE_CONNECTION=database

Created the queuedtask

class FulfillmentTask implements ShouldQueue{
//code here
}

Controller

use App\Jobs\FulfillmentTask;

//rest of the class here

public function somefunction(Request $request){
//some code here
//read csv file
foreach ($fileContents as $row){
            FulfillmentTask::dispatch($orderId, $client, $request->sendEmail)->onQueue('database');
        }
}

Issue is the FulfillmentTask is executed without the queue:work command being given in the terminal.

Any idea on why this is happening?

via Chebli Mohamed