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You are misunderstanding the nature of sales tax, and the specific issue here.

Illinois would not require you, a Washington resident, to pay sales tax on items purchased from Illinois.

Instead, Washington State requires you to pay sales tax on items you buy from companies in Illinois. HOW that happens depends on the nature of the company in Illinois.

If the company in illinois also had any business interest at all in Washington, Washington state can ask them to collect the sales tax from you, and send it to them . That is the easiest for you, because you just give the Illinois company the money, and don't have to worry about it again.

If the company in illinois has NO BUSINESS in Washington, then Washington requires YOU to pay the tax directly. They have an online service for that, or you can print out a form, fill it out, and send in your money.

Any time you make a purchase out of state where they company does NOT collect sales tax, you have to do it yourself. Here is the relevant Washington State tax information for Washington State Use Tax:

Use tax is due if:

Goods are purchased in another state that does not have a sales tax or a state with a sales tax lower than Washington’s. For example, items you purchase in Oregon that are used in Washington are subject to use tax.
Goods are purchased from someone who is not authorized to collect sales tax. For example, purchases of furniture from an individual through a newspaper classified ad or a purchase of artwork from an individual collector.
Goods are purchased out of state by subscription, through the Internet, or from a mail order catalog company. Many of these companies collect Washington’s sales tax, but if the company from which you order does not, you owe the use tax.
Personal property is acquired with the purchase of real property.

The information on how to pay the tax is on that web page as well.

Assuming you want to pay the taxes that you legally owe, which would you rather do, have a company collect the tax from you when you buy something, or have to go to a separate website and fill out a form, and send a separate check or make separate payment for your purchase?

Now, lets for a moment forget about how just about every state has a similar requirement for it's residents. You, and someone who lives just over the border in Oregon, each purchase a $1000 TV from amazon. You, happening to live in a state where Amazon does business, have your sales tax collected by Amazon, at least 6.5% (I don't know your local number). So you had to pay an extra $65 on your purchase.

The guy in Oregon pays no sales tax. He got the TV $65 cheaper than you did.

Another guy who lives next store to the Oregon guy decides to buy the SAME TV from Walmart, who is also selling it for $1000. That person pays Oregon sales tax on the purchase, meaning he paid more than the guy who ordered from Amazon.

Now, if everybody follows the law, the guy in Oregon who bought from Amazon will fill out his use tax form and pay his sales tax. But if he is a tax cheat, he gets rewarded.

In 1994, the Supreme Court ruled that it was too hard for a company with no business in a state to figure out all the sales taxes around the country. That is no longer the case -- Amazon already has the ability to do so, for the times when it sells things from it's partners like Toys R Us or Amazon (you might not notice this because you pay tax on everything from Amazon, but for most of us we see the sales tax pop up when these purchases are made).

BTW, if I go online and order something from Starbucks, they collect sales tax from me -- because there are Starbucks locations in my state. Starbucks knows how to collect the right sales tax for most locations in the country, as do Borders, Walmart, Target, and Barnes and Noble.

Those online companies are all at a competitive disadvantage to Amazon, because they do business in states around the country, while Amazon has structured it's entire business to AVOID doing business in states around the country. It is part of their business plan to help people cheat on their taxes.