Sure we use Sir and ma am all the time here. But you never call someone your equal a sir or ma'am.
You either use it:
-With someone you've never met before that is older than you "sir/ma'am? you dropped this"
-Someone you know that is ALOT older than you just out of respect, unless you're in the deep south then the person only has to be a little older than you
-In voilatile situations with cops, strangers, people of authority.
-Customer service.
As a girl I was raised to say yes ma'am and no ma'am to everyone. So was my husband. But now I only say it in the situations mentioned above. Hubby too, although he does still use it for his father who is in his 70's. I'm not teaching my children to say it but they're not aloud to say "yeah" so i guess that's todays version.