I have this 'semi-automatic' by way of a bat file...
I've added the bat file to MC's "Send to... > External" list using the id "Send Copy To Photoshop"
I right click an image, send to, external, send copy to photoshop.
The bat file then makes a copy of that image in the same folder, naming it [filename]_edited-1, and opens that file in photoshop for editing.
While I'm editing, MC's auto import imports the new image and reads in any tags I've saved.
When I'm done editing, auto import picks up the changes to file and updates the thumbnail.
Now, whether you're viewing by location, or by tag filters, it shouldn't matter, both files will be viewable side by side making it a simple job to manually stack them, made simpler by the fact that the file you right click on to initiate the stack will be placed on top.
Final points to note:
When you save the edited file in photoshop, it preserves the EXIF and IPTC tags, but does not preserve the proprietry MJMD tags. You get away with this because by the time you've finished editing, MC has already imported that data, but, you should be mindful that that info is now 'database only' so you might want to do an 'update tags from library' at this point too.
It's as close as I can get on my own (a couple of interactors helped with the bat file way back in MC11 days) and once you've done a few, it's actually not that bad a work around.
When files are stacked in MC, all but the top file are effectively hidden from the main database untill you expand the stack, unstack the files, or search for stack files (currently broken in MC 13)
I often found that when expanding a stack, the current view filters meant that the stack contents would often end up scattered throughout the view, rather than held together in a bounding box ala PSE...
To go some way to alleviate that little problem, I've created a couple of 'stack management' view schemes that show all stacked files regardless of their expanded/collapsed status, grouped in their stacks to keep them together.
PSE would do two different kinds of stack:
One for plain old stacks of similar images, and another they called "Version Sets" for edited files.
That's what my two view schemes try to emulate. One shows plain old stacks, and one shows only stacks of files I've edited.
If you're interested in the view schemes and the bat file (should only need the path to the executable edited for PSE) let me know and I'll put them up for you.
-marko.