Calculating Base Resistor in Transistor
I'm going to assume you mean some common-emitter BJT circuit, like this:







simulate this circuit &ndash; Schematic created using CircuitLab

The answer to your question depends on what "some load" is. The collector current can be, at most, whatever the current through "some load" would be if its lower terminal was shorted to ground. In practice it will be a little less, as the collector-emitter voltage probably can't go below 0.2V. This will be specified in the datasheet.

Does that exceed the transistor's maximum collector current rating? If so, you might want to do something about that. Perhaps reduce the maximum current through the load by adding some resistance in series with it, or select a transistor with a higher maximum current rating.

While you could limit the maximum collector current by limiting the base current through the proper selection of R1, this is a difficult way to go. hFE varies quite a lot between individual transistors even of the same model, and it also varies by temperature. Datasheets often specify minimum hFE but they do not specify a maximum. And hFE is also quite large, meaning small variations in base current will make large variations in collector current. That means R1 must be very precise and stable over temperature.

So in practice, most designs of circuits like this control the collector current by controlling the load, rather than controlling the base resistor.