[ERR_REQUIRE_ESM]: Must use import to load module

What's going wrong?

I am not able to start node application with pm2. The error shown in the log is:

[C:\test\src\index.mjs:1
Error [ERR_REQUIRE_ESM]: Must use import to load module: file:///C:/test/src/index.mjs]

How could we reproduce this issue?

Node v12.18.2
pm2@4.4.0 installed with yarn global add pm2

package.json

{
  "name": "test",
  "main": "src/index.mjs",
  "dependencies": {
    "esm": "^3.2.25"
  }
}

service.config.js

module.exports = {
    /**
     * Application configuration section
     * http://pm2.keymetrics.io/docs/usage/application-declaration/
     */
    apps: [{
        name: 'test',
        script: './src/index.mjs',
        node_args: '-r esm',
        watch: false,
    }],

}

index.mjs

const startConsuming = async () => {
    console.log(1);
}

startConsuming()

export default startConsuming;

$ pm2 report

Start command: pm2 start src/index.mjs --node-args="-r esm"
The app works fine if it's being started with node -r esm src/index.mjs

Reproduce the failure with pm2 start src/index.mjs --node-args="-r esm" using the versions and files shown in package.json, service.config.js, and src/index.mjs. Compare it with node -r esm src/index.mjs and trace how PM2 launches the .mjs entry point and passes node_args. Done means the application starts successfully through PM2 without ERR_REQUIRE_ESM.