The whole point of USB3.1/type-C is that the USB slave can charge the master, while still also doing USB signalling. If you really can't plug a USB stick into a charging Macbook, then that's bad charger design (it should contain a hub), not just bad laptop design.

Whether you call it an aesthetic vision of clean unbroken lines or something else, Apple these days make a ton of money from not including in the box the things you need to make your shiny picture-frame do anything useful.

Peter