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ESA brackets are what started off life as a standarisation for desktop LCD monitors. The VESA standard has expanded to encompass larger LCD/LED TVs. Plasmas never conformed to the VESA standard because they were much larger and much heavier. So I wouldn't worry about the plasma not being VESA standard. It makes no difference.
A universal wall bracket will generally cover a range of sizes that span from medium size VESA settings through to those required for plasma screens up to XX". You just choose a bracket that will handle the screen size and weight. That's it. The range of fixing holes on the bracket rails will accommodate the hole spacing on the back of the TV. In 10 years of fitting TV's to client's walls I only ever had bracket that didn't fit a TV, and that was because the customer bought his own and then lost some of the fixings. You'll be fine.
As for projectors.... Buy the best you can afford. Benq are cheap and cheerful (no disrespect), but Optoma's serious home cinema projectors (HD30 and above) are in a different league. The cheaper Optomas are good value but miss out on key features such as colour management. That might not sound so important at the moment, but it makes a huge difference to getting the most out of the projector. A well calibrated £1000 HD30 will kick the arse of most other projectors under £1800. The HD30 has just been superseded by the HD50. I haven't seen one in the flesh yet, so can't comment how well it will calibrate. If it's like the HD30 then it will be a giant killer.
Epsons are okay but don't really light my fire. The picture doesn't quite have enough of the mystery X ingredient to make me forget I'm watching an LCD projector.
Domestic projectors capable of doing a 7ft wide picture range in price from under £300 to well over £100,000 (yes, seriously). Most of the action for new users at at the entry level range under £2K. In that narrow price brand the focus of the products changes quite a lot.
At the real cheap end as the small business projectors that companies try to pass off as "great for home entertainment too"
They're often 4:3 aspect ratio with incredibly loud fans, very poor video picture processing, and they're geared towards brightness against office lighting rather than producing realistic colour and convincing shadow detail.
Around £500 there's the gaming and entertainment projectors. These do a pretty respectable job with video. They're bright without being too garish; 2000-3000 ANSI Lumens isn't uncommon. They're not too noisy. Some have 3D. They're a good choice for a home bar/games room where you're doing the equivalent of pub football at home.
At about £1000 things are starting to tilt towards serious film watching: better 1080p DLP chips than the cheaper products. There's less of a focus on brightness and more on really good video processing, accurate colour rendition, better blacks. The brightness isn't so high as the gaming machines. But that's not a problem when the projector isn't fighting so much against a lot of ambient light. They're still pretty poky though and have enough light power to do a reasonable job without getting the room totally blacked out.
£2000 - £3500 is where the dedicated cinema projectors start. JVC's range of DiLA projectors starts here. They've been the big noise for the last 10 years in the "up to £10,000" market. Sony keep dipping in and out. They're currently on a bit of a push and have both 1080p and true 4K product technologies on offer. Currently Sony is the only manufacturer offering true native 4K resolution at under £10,000.
On paper, none of these projectors have the raw light power to compete with the budget projectors. But in reality they have far superior blacks, better chips and lenses, and use less tricks to achieve their quoted brightness levels so the playing field is somewhat levelled out.
...and screens
Yes, there are manufacturers that will make you a screen with extra top black masking; enough so you can bridge the extra needed to deal with the high ceiling. Screenline is the first name that pops in to mind. You'll probably be looking at the thick end of a grand though. Not because the extra masking is so much more money, or that it's a special order. More that the basic qualities of the screen need to be much higher spec'd to have the capacity to deal with the additional material. So, whereas your cheap Chinese screens use a thin surface that sags a bit even in 16:9 standard form, and their motors and screen roller tube are rated just high enough to cope with the lighter screen; if you pushed them to deal with the thicker screen surface of a better screen then the Chinese mechanicals would soon fail. It's the same for their surfaces too. Adding a metre of extra top masking causes far too much sag and ripple in their thin materials. The basic quality of the two types of screen is poles apart.
All decent drop down screens will wall mount though. So if you can live with the screen case on the wall rather than up at ceiling height, there are some decent budget makes to tide you through until you settle on something worth a decent investment. Optoma's basic screens are okay. There's always the used route as well. Look for Draper, Screenline, Da-Lite. They're medium to higher-end brands worth paying for even as used buys. Top of the tree is Stewart. Their surfaces are simply stunning. The pictures really pop.
Sorry to hear this J!
