Reading the Amplitude of an Ultrasound Echo

But a simple IR thermometer pointing about the same direction as the ultrasonic will give you the temperature of the object it's pointed at.

Skin temperature usually falls in a pretty small range, so it should not be too hard to distinguish a live person from a cup of coffee, except at that moment in time when the coffee has cooled to skin temperature.

For more fun, check out the Panasonic Grid-Eye sensor.