I can no longer use the ESC key on my keyboards to access the Control menues

This topic explains the controller profiles: Configuring Controller Profiles
Click on each subtopic to get the details. At first this may look complicated but it really is pretty straightforward. You don’t have to “find” the profiles in the cloud. It is enough just to know MSFS handles that aspect of the controller profiles.

Here’s another link that might help you: Set up Tobii Eye Tracker

You may need to do the Clean Uninstall described here to get to the Options again.

Update: Perhaps it’s as simple as mapping “Toggle Pause” and “Set Pause Off” to ESC as discussed here.