The difference is that du Plessis acted alone, on something that's generally a grey area (using something in mouth to shine the ball). Some things like that are already permitted - using your uniform to shine the ball. Du Plessis denied his actions were premediated, and never got sanctioned beyond the ICC's simple tampering sanctions.
What Smith did is a whole different thing. He *led* a conspiracy to make the kid in the team do this, using something that's definitely not permitted. And then he admitted to a team culture that does this to win. In general the ball is never permitted to be roughened, only shined.
The largest calls for his sacking are not the ICC sanctions, but his own country. Even the Aussie PM has demanded his ban. You know you're in trouble when your political leader takes time off on a weekend and demands publicly that you lose your job.
Aussie team culture is out exposed now. Despite all the recent controversies, they are seemingly immune to reconsidering doing something stupid in front of cameras. And Smith is enough of an idiot that he thinks he can just say 'oops sorry, under my leadership that will never happen again'. The arrogance. Thinks he can do that, then define his own punishment too.
The guy's going to be remembered for this, the way Azhar and Cronje aren't known for cricket anymore.
If you think I'm being extreme, here's what cricinfo itself says, many hours after my post:
Smith, Warner face life bans from Cricket Australia