Add submenu link

If you want to add a submenu link you first have to load the parent link and then create a submenu link:

use Drupal\menu_link_content\Entity\MenuLinkContent;

function MY_MODULE_update_8001() {
  $menu_link_parents = \Drupal::entityTypeManager()
    ->getStorage('menu_link_content')
    ->loadByProperties([
      'title' => 'Dashboard',
      'menu_name' => 'main',
    ]);

  $menu_link_parent = reset($menu_link_parents);

  if ($menu_link_parent) {
    MenuLinkContent::create([
      'title' => 'Add tasks',
      'link' => ['uri' => 'internal:/add-task'],
      'menu_name' => 'main',
      'weight' => -50,
      'parent' => $menu_link_parent->getPluginId(),
    ])->save();
  }
}