I use pause a lot - on the grounds that:
- the battle camera is a little awkward to use (I think I need a better mouse)
- it is often hard to pick out your target when units are moving and intermingled
- the AI has the advantage of omniscience and instantaneous response.
The last of these is why I consider it a cheat. The AI has little enough going for it, that it seems unfair that I strip it of its one advantage. So I don't pause, and I probably lose more battles than most people who do. But in a game where everyone's complaining that the AI doesn't offer enough of a challenge, I think it's silly to take away the one aspect that makes the AI more challenging for the human player.

But as you say, in SP, it's whatever floats your own boat.