Yes they would and that would have been a very short movie.
Yes, for some reason everyone long, long ago in the galaxy far, far away standardized on weaponry based on static plasma beams (lightsabres) and throwing plasma bolts (blasters), leaving more conventional weapons forgotten or undeveloped.
Back when the original movie came out my old high school wargaming and D&D buddies tried to come up with a role-playing game set in the Star Wars mythos. We decided that the Empire had a rigid military doctrine that explained some of the irrationalities. It wasn’t a satisfactory solution, but it’s what we came up with.
...would of been a very short movie.