Ceiling light controlled by switch stays on permanently once something is plugged into an outlet
Sounds like poster is not coming back... Short answer is 

Look in the receptacles

Usually, receptacles that control lamps are split.  This is done by breaking off a tab of metal that resides between the two brass screws on the hot side of the receptacle.  

It happens all the time where a novice decides "I'm going to replace all my receptacles for some reason" (color change, weak old receptacles that don't hold, GFCI, you name it.)  Because they are a novice, they have no idea how the "tabs" work, and don't even realize "tabs" are a thing.  They end up defeating the switched light, have no idea why that happened, don't even know where to start, so they shrug, decide "fix it later" or  live with it, and switch the lamps on and off at the lamp.  

Or, they do something weirder like break off the neutral tab by mistake.  

Regardless, something like that has gone wrong.   Look for abnormal wiring in each of the receptacle boxes.  Shoot us a photo, and edit your question to add them.