html_esc and urlencode

Send a test string: !@#$%^&*()_-+='";:,.
Query string results in:  !%40%23%24%25^%26amp%3B*%28%29_-%2B%3D%26%23039%3B%26quot%3B%3B%3A%2C.
Received in Salesforce: !@#$%^&amp;*()_-+=&#039;&quot;;:,.

Technically it is clear that upon the merge of the response first an esc_html is done (encoding characters as &'" to &amp; &#039; &quot;
Then the query string is run through urlencode, which changes something like &#039; to %26%23039%3B which then by Salesforce is translated back to &#039;