That is a common scenario in the Southwest on the older homes. A lot of times they don't want to fir out because the rooms are already tiny.
I use a 4" grinder with a diamond blade to cut the channels, mostly behind where the base cabinets will go. You only have to channel from the recep to just below the top nailing strip on the cabinet. Don't forget to rig up some nail plates where the cable will pass behind the nailing strip.
Score out the holes for the boxes with the diamond blade, then use a core bit on your rotary hammer to remove most of the material, clean it up with a chisel. You can plaster the boxes in place with 20 min mud after you have installed the cables. Here we use MC cable or UF cable, we don't embed Romex in a brick wall. We are required to dig the channel deep enough for the 1.25" of cover.
At least on the old homes, the brick is real soft. We also do this on Mud Adobe, which is a real mess.
Don't forget a good respirator.
