Hackers have been trapped in UV nodes, yes. But without the use of simsense conditioning (essentially brainwashing) they still KNEW they were in the matrix. The amount of processing required to make a UV host is already exorbitant. It would take even more to make a host that is indistinguishable from the real world, on top of the simsense conditioning programs to make the people forget they're in the matrix. And the moment they stepped out of that host, the whole thing would come crashing down. Even in the UV host, there are simple clues that you just can't get rid of without using enormous processing power, and constantly adjusting the programs in real time. For instance, consider if the setting of the host was a sprawl. Are you going to individually program every car, devil rat, NPC, and so on in the sprawl? Of course not, that would get insane, both in the time and processing required. No, you'll rely on scripted actions/reactions, traffic patterns, and so on. The problem is, unless they are raised to not know anything different (as with the movie Matrix or the Truman Show), the test subjects are going to notice the inconsistencies and patterns before too long. That is, unless you rely on conditioning, distractions, or both to keep them from noticing. But conditioning takes time, and too many convenient distractions is itself an indicator that something was wrong.
Now, that's over the short term (weeks to months). After that period, people will start adapting to the situation if they haven't found a way to escape it. You'll see them start forgetting details of their lives before, and have trouble remembering that they are in a simulation without contact from the outside. After a few years, you'll have a similar situation to Halberstam's children, where they didn't know they were in the matrix, though if they got out of the box, they could remember. But outside of evil science projects like Halberstam, what would be the reason for taking TMs and throwing them in a UV host using all that processing power for months or years? What possible benefit would the corp get? Remember, MCT wasn't doing this for giggles. They were using the jarhead TMs as 'living' IC in their nodes.