I paid for it because it's valuable and deserves payment. I get paid for doing work in which I use it. I want its maker to continue to thrive and sustain it (a wish, I admit, that has not panned out as expected; development on Sublime Text is incredibly slow). All ethical logic says I should pay and so I did.

What makes you think that "nobody" pays for Sublime? Perhaps you mean, "I'm using this essential tool without paying for and I'd like to believe that lots of other people are also cheating its maker and would they please give me some rationalizations I can use to make myself feel better?" What's the question exactly?