If you OK with expose light tracking then you can definitely do a good lighting settings without plaster ceiling.

Yes L box along the wall can be a simple solution, yet you will need many nos of wall flooding lights to get the desired interior brightness you want.

Why not upload some existing photos for your home here so we can figure some igbting setups ideas for you, as different beam structure and position might affect the the way how we can arrange a lighting option for expose ceiling.