In our area the receptacles are hammer height, The switches are 44" to the bottom unless someone requests otherwise. Our large custom homes always have the outlets mounted horizontal in the basemolding on the first floor.
Receptacles at 48" will never be accepted. I'm sorry, but it would look like crap. Just put a safety cap in the outlets or use safety plates. One of my earliest memories is of me putting a paper clip in an outlet, I was about 3 years old and it taught me a valuable lesson.
