Seems like most everyone has been infected by the Serana idles from Skyrim now.

Major problem if one fast travels or teleports and the idiot companion deceides they want to idle somewhere, and end up left behind because of it.

Skyrim had the problem as well with followers who auto idled.

You must be remembering one of the many companion mods for Skyrim. Vanilla Skyrim had no follower AI options.

As for the subject -I find the companion AI way better than in Skyrim. They are still annoying at times but a step in the right direction IMHO. One thing that helps me is that Cait, Piper and later Curie are so easy to look at it and have amusing dialog and voice acting that I don't mind them being so close (most of the time).

I love Codsworth to pieces but he should NOT stand next to me shouting taunts while I am in sneak mode. Also blocks on stairways , doorways, narrow halls, etc,

I used Marcurio or Faendal in Skyrim.. They stayed back and out of my way.. All the time.