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Require them to take a level of an NPC class at level 1
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/npc-classes
(I've thought of doing the same myself) Each PC is a soldier in the town guard or a mage's apprentice or a shop keep. Then you can role play the actual 'i want to be an adventurer' moment
For my homebrew world every PC will be required to take multiple levels as a NPC or some other variation of 0 level characters and will be playing their backgrounds out in game. They will not start as adventurers or Heroes and may never become heroes. Heroes are made, not born.
I think it's best for situations like these to talk with your players and work together to find a good mix. Situations like this require a lot of dm adjudication and player cooperation. During the game you have to put int a lot of opportunities for creative and out of the box thinking on the part of players.
For example, consider your crime boss with seemingly diplomatic immunity. He's bought himself magical protection from scrying, et. al. And he's got alibis out the wazoo so he's nearly untouchable by conventional prosecution. However, how he's coming into all this wealth and yet not reporting it to the taxman comes into suspicion. So send in your pc with a billion ranks in profession (clerk) after him- after all, nobody wants to mess with the IRS (hey, worked against Capone...)
Or for more advanced tactics, let the unconventional guys pool their abilities. Say that the kindgom's at war with a race of belligerent giants and it's at a stalemate. The good human kingom wants it to end., but the giant's wont let up.. However, the intelligence reveals that their leader is quite a gourmand for fine alcoholic beverages and can't really resist them. So you get your court enchanter to think up some kind of charm elixir, and the party brewmaster (professioin: brewer) has to make it taste just right and then present it to the giant king. However, a fight breaks out among the giants over who gets the rare beer and so your court bodyguard must protect the brewmaster and make sure he gets safely to the giant king(using feats like Bodyguard and In Harm's Way)to trick him into drinking the beer of charming.
I typically for my 1st level characters look for things that the skill set of the class lends itself to. My current ranger at level 1 had ranks in perfession tanner and had been making a living trapping and furring through the warm months and wintering in Korvosa. Because of the traits he took for the AP he stopped hunting to search for his missing sister in Korvosa.
There are ways of crafting a character background that do not require taking levels of NPC classes though that is certainly a great way to do it. I sometimes if I am starting a new campaign and have a small group or do not want to start with a level 1 adventure will have the players take NPC levels rather than PC levels.
As for starting as established characters that is something that can be done by working out with the DM and the players. The trick is to not allow the position to be abused to allow them access rescources above their level.
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Plenty of professional adventurers start off as average folk, its not like they are born with a lust for gold and killing monsters. Weather or not a game is run as a series of aimless greed inspired dungeon crawls or an epic quest that takes unlikely heroes and forges them into legends is ultimately up to the DM, and how much your background represents having come from humble origins up to the player.
That having been said I find if you want to tone back the feeling of super heroism lower starting stats like a 20 or less point buy help make pcs feel less like supermen and more just above average, as can using the slow experience progression.
Something I've never liked about D&D style characters is how they are always adventurers and always specialized for adventuring. Sometime I'd like to play or run a game where the pcs are made as if they already lived their lives in some way before they started adventuring.
As others have mentioned, this can be addressed in the campaign set up in various ways:
1) Use a modest ability generation method. Depending on how close you want the PCs to "normal folks," you have several options: 3d6 in order, 3d6 arrange as desired, 4d6 in order (no re-rolls), NPC "elite array" (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8), 15-Point Buy (only one "buy down" allowed, possibly not below an 8), 4d6 arrange as desired (no re-rolls), etc.
2) Mandate some "non-adventuring" character choices based on background. This can be a simple as forcing everyone to take at least one Craft or Profession skill to having everyone take an NPC class at 1st level (or even one level of commoner).
3) Set limits on character advancement. Use the slow progression on Tables 3-1 (pg. 30) and 12-5 (pg 399) in the Core Rulebook and/or plan the "end" of the campaign at level 6-10. Level 6 is about the point where characters in the 3.x/PF system exceed what can be done in the real world, without factoring in magic (read Calibrating Your Expectations); 9th-10th level corresponds to "name level" in older versions (where PCs would often become lords/ladies and "retire") and is where primary spellcasters gain access to 5th-level spells (which include game-changing options like baleful polymorph, breath of life, commune, commune with nature, contact other plane, fabricate, overland flight, permanency, polymorph, raise dead, teleport, and true seeing). Even after the campaign "ends," the "retired" PCs should be incorporated into the campaign setting and can always come back for "one shot" adventures.
4) It's a good idea to play out the events that start the PCs in their adventuring career. Depending on the campaign set up, this can be as simple as a group of childhood friends/relatives striking out on their own, the sole surviors of a village wiped out by some menace (obviously the main focus for at least the first part of the campaign), or a group of strangers thrown together by circumstance (escaping slaves, explorers/traders/townsfolk attacked by bandits, captured by pirates, stranded in some isolated area, etc.). The start of almost any adventure path can be used as a good starting point (or at least to help generate ideas for character hooks and ways to bring the PCs into the action).