Are pick & place machines allergic to bags of parts
Exactly what a pick and place machine needs depends on the particular machine, but generally at a very minimum three things are required.

The component must be upright and sitting on a flat surface.
The component must have a flat location roughly in the center of the top which can be used to pick it up with a vacuum nozzle.
The machine must know what components it can find where.

Reels tubes or trays ensure that the components are presented to the machine in a known position and orientation. Stickers or caps allow the vacuum pickup tool to grab components that would not otherwise be friendly to such pickup.
So yes if you want to make stuff easy for your assembly contractor you want to choose components that are packaged in a way that suits pick and place machines. A bag of components with no picking surface is not automation friendly.