Companies will try to get pilot applicants to pay for their own type ratings (and anything else) as long as the ruse is successful. We all know that many persons entering at the bottom of the commercial aviation ladder are willing to b*** o*** and do anything to get that entry level job. You have to have some sympathy for this attitude, after all we were all at the bottom of the ladder once and needed that first "break" into the system.
The problem arises when their actions devalue the jobs higher up the ladder. After all, what is the point of putting up with misery in your entry level job when all you succeed in doing is to destroy the jobs you were aspiring to. If a company can get a cheap pilot, someone willing to pay their own training, all you will see will be a string of "alter ego" airlines with each sequential pilot grouping paying a larger and larger share of their hiring costs.
Companies will only insist on pilots paying their own costs while pilot supply is high in relation to demand and there are enough desparate pilot applicants willing to go along with the idea.