Is sharper images always better?

I ask because every time I sharpen my photos, it always brings in more noise into my photos. So you step away from one disadvantage (soft photos) and jump into a fire pit.  

Not sure if this makes sense or not. 

Well, first off, just using LR's masking for sharpening will get you much better results, and allow the luminance noise reduction to do its job more effectively.

Past that, you need to use PS (or similar) to apply sharpening judiciously, intentionally, and with specificity. I like using a frequency separation technique to get the high pass layer, use it with a mask, and bring in sharpening only where i want it.

That said, when I started out I tended to make my images generally sharp. Not (I still think) overdone, but overall pretty crisp. I believe that it's possible to do so for a "look" and not go overboard, but I've learned that limiting what is sharper is really a benefit to the image, as it helps direct the eye. Combining sharpening, vignetting, dodging and burning, and tone adjustments are all tools that should be in one's kit. IMO, of course.

With my a7Riii, my images are really, really sharp. I used to crank up sharpness to 120 on my a6000, but now, I go up to about 80-90 on average and then use masking and lum to smooth out the noise. As a “Base”, I Have found that 25 masking and 25-30 lum makes for a really clean photo for most shots. Every once in a while I have to go high, but it’s rare. I also stopped just cranking up the sharpness on every photo. Learn how to use the brush tool in LR to apply contrast and PS for its ability to use other filters to help your images too. Adding lots of contrast to an entire photo will also cause some issues because 1. Not everything in a photo looks good with contrast. 2. When you crank contrast, it can cause the photo to become underexposed every place you apply it heavily. That means you have to somehow being up the exposure/whites to account for the lost lighting in those areas. Just take it slow. Photoshop is really overwhelming and I felt like learning good lighting and Lightroom edits to be a priority because that’s about 95% of your work in removing/preventing issues. I am currently learning PS now and feel like I can focus on it now that the other parts have become much easier and understood. 

The better you get, the more difficult your shots will become too. I notice that, as I improve my photography skills, I challenge myself to more difficult shots, which means, I also need to tighten up my editing. Photoshop is amazing at what it can do, so don’t underestimate or give up on the idea of using it.