I once had a broken center terminal inside the distributor cap.
That was a hard one to figure out. Nearly drove me insane.
I had the same, except mine fell out twice on two different caps. One I super glued it back in, the other was beyond salvage. Another time I shattered three rotors before I figured out the distributor shaft had so much sidewards play it would occasionally allow the rotor to contact a lug. Another time the shear pin in my distributor shaft sheared and threw my timing way off, so far off it wouldn't even fire.
Point is don't always start swapping out sensors.
If your CEL isn't lighting when you turn the key to run, two likely reasons the bulb is burnt out or your BUS has shut down. Either wiring, possibly an open circuit, or possibly a short in the 8-volt sensor supply. Sensors need some resistance or the 8 volt supply overloads and shut down. If a sensor has an internal short and no resistance the 8 volt supply has a protector so it doesn't fry and possibly when you unplug the problem sensor the CEL will light again, unless the bulb is burnt out.
Or your issue has nothing to do with the sensors at all and you are going down a rabbit hole.
One quick check you can make is to test the fuel pressure. it will prime for a few seconds as soon as you turn the key to run, it won't really build pressure until the motor is turning over and the ASD relay is closed. If the PCM gets no or faulty input when the motor is turning over the ASD relay won't close and you get no power to the ignition coil, the alternator, fuel pump (through another relay) or the injectors.