No Trackpad Clicking When Opening Lid After Sleep

Hello,

I wanted to run this issue by the community for opinions (other than "call Apple tech support," which I already have.)

The issue: when I open the lid to my 2017 MacBook Pro 15" after being asleep for — let's say a couple/few hours or more — the trackpad is unable to "click" or select. If I press down on the trackpad, the "clicking" noise or haptic feedback is non-existent (I know the click is not actually a click) and if I tap the trackpad to select (which I have enabled) that doesn't work either. Keyboard works, cursor can be moved, and things can be selected (limitedly) via keyboard, but that's about it. I have not been able to figure out how to restart the computer properly from the menu in this situation instead of doing a power-button, hard-restart, or whatever it's called.

Have tried several times to: reset NVRAM/PRAM and SMC; Command-Option-Esc to relaunch finder; closing and opening the lid again; locking the screen via touch-bar and unlocking. But these have had no real results.

A thought: I have been using a thin microfiber cloth sandwiched between the keyboard and screen. I do this begrudgingly because I have noticed tiny scratchmarks when the screen is turned off, against the light, that look like dust, which I think are being caused when the lid is closed and notebook is kept in tight spaces, such as a full laptop bag. Since I have been using the cloth these scratches have not increased in quantity (A separate, rather irksome issue.)

Questions: could the microfiber cloth somehow be impeding the laptop's ability to wake-up from sleep again properly? Any ideas on what could be causing the trackpad issue? Thank you and sorry for the long post.