A couple of points/suggestions . . .
(1) You can use High Pass for a midtone contrast boost (MR calls this Local Contrast Enhancement, BTW). The downside to using High Pass sharpening is color shifts. If you follow MR's suggestion and use USM with low Amount and high Radius settings, you can apply a Luminosity blend and avoid unwanted color shifts.
(2) If you use ACR or Lightroom for capture sharpening, you can use the Clarity slider for a midtone contrast boost. Otherwise, I would suggest that you treat midtone contrast boost as a form of creative sharpening. The goal of capture sharpening is to restore only the sharpness lost through digital capture and no more.
(3) You should perform noise reduction before capture sharpening. If noise becomes obvious after applying noise reduction, capture sharpening, *AND* then midtone contrast boost, then either (a) noise reduction was not sufficient or ( capture sharpening and/or the midtone contrast boost were too aggressive.
I apply LCE to nearly every photograph. I apply it after noise reduction, capture sharpening, and adjustments to tone and color are complete. It will definitely affect the image visually. It works well as a haze buster. It adds some additional perceived sharpness, especially among finer details.
Cheers,
Mitch