That switch in the rear cargo area dome light is not for turning the interior lights on. It is for turning them off if you are going to have the hatch open for a prolonged amount of time (to save your battery)
However that switch always fails and burns up. The switch isn't made to handle the load. If you'll notice it is the same switch used for the map lights, definitely two different types of loads for the same type of switch.
Replace the switch with a different style so you can turn your interior lights off. Most likely the cause is something wrong with the light switch in your hatch locking mechanism, although a temporary solution would be to replace the switch in the rear dome light so you could at least turn the lights off.
Or pull the interior lights fuse, although at least on my 95, that fuse is shared by the radio as well.