I can tell you from personal experience, they do ship at different state of charge. Always verify.
I had multiple cells arrive above 95% SOC, and others at 50%.
I also think that sometimes the balance is counterproductive on a BMS, but don't have enough experience to say conclusively.
I know the Daly BMS does 35 milliamps of resistive balancing, and then doesn't do it continuously. It could easily take a year to balance cells like that (or even more, depends on how often it gets above 3.4v where I set the balance to start).
A top balance is just a sure way to get the SOC in cells quickly in sync. You are welcome to do as you wish with your cells, but I recommend it.