But before you go into it just think of one thing....money,i have spent over £500 so far and that will go up quite a bit if i got every bulb done,my next hue purchase will be the strip light for the kitchen.
What you are looking for is;
https://www.lightwaverf.com/solution/smart-home/
This. If you don't care about colour this is what you want.
Lightwaverf replaces the switch itself, meaning it's that you turn on and off remotely.
However, you need to watch what bulbs you get. They turn off dimming to "very low" instead of turning the power off entirely. It does so that it's drawing power so it can still be controlled while off. Some LEDs have capacitors that mean they don't work with Lightwaverf as they draw some very small charge them flash for half a second every so often.
I had lightwaverf in my old house and loved them.
EDIT:
Oh yeah, I've got 5 Echo Dots, 5 Sonos Play:1's, Samsung Smartthings hub that allows Alexa to control the Sonos as well as a couple of switches for various things, and a couple of rooms that are all Hue lights.
Yes. For mutliple plugs sans smartthings you can use the IFTTT "maker" app to perform the individual "switch ons" then a single aggregated maker app to call them.
If you just want a single plug, then it's obv. a bit easier.
The Lightwaverf Link can connect to Alexa separately. You don't need the Smrtthings hub to control any Lightwaverf device.
Samsung are trying to make the Smartthings Hub/app at the center of your home automation so that you can control all your different smart products from the one app. For example you CAN add your Hue bulbs to the Smartthings app (you still need a hue hub to do this) but you don't need to. Alexa works with hue directly, the same way the Lightwaverf kit works with hue (with its link box). Im not 100% sure but if you can "add Lightwaverf to smartthings" its not really required if you're using Alexa as the "aggregator" - but in theory it would let you configure mentions/ light sensors from Smartthings to trigger Lightwaverf devices automatically.
Currently Sonos DOES require the Smartthings hubs to work with Alexa. Alexa doesn't talk directly to Sonos yet, but is coming. Currently, limitations are limited to turning the Sonos on and off again - even with the Smartthings hub. That's all I need it for so works well for me.
My Nest works directly with Alexa.
I think Hive works directly with Alexa.
Regarding timing / programmed automation with Lightwaverf kit you'd need to have a wee google yourself. It's not something I ever bothered with as my routine was never that constant, buts it's entirely possible. If Lightwaverf CAN be linked to the Smartthings hub that would allow you to do it, but the LWRF app might have been updated as well.
Also yes, for a Lamp you'd need a hue bulb to be able to dim it. You can't dim a socket, only a switch.
I've got a hue bulb called "living room ceiling" and one called "living room lamp". I've also got a TP-link smart socket called "fire place lights" and a Smartthings smart socket called "bookcase lights".
Alexa is able to turn on each of these devices individually but I also created a group called "Living Room Lights" with every one of those different devices assigned to that group.
Now if I tell Alexa to "turn on the living room lights" they all go on.
I've got a second group called "night time lights" that has just a select few living room lights in it as well so I can say "turn on night time lights".
A 3rd group I've got is called "living room big lights" so I can say "turn off living room big lights" and it effectively creates "night time" mode (as groups can currently only toggle everything on or off rather than setting a specific scene and disabling some and enabling others - this might be where an IFTTT task might be better)
Additionally I've also created a group called "everything" that allows me to "turn off everything" as I leave the house.
Looking at getting an echo dot and Phillips hue
Do I need a hue hub for each room?
They daisy chain to each other so you should be ok