So I have put new forward  lighting, rear and dash harnesses in as the current wiring was looking decrepit (its a 1971). The issue I am having I probably caused.  As soon as I connect the negative battery terminal on the battery, the taillights and running lights come on. No key in the ignition. I thought it may be the headlight switch or the brake switch that was bad based on similar issues from others. When I disconnect them both, the lights still stay on. When they are both plugged back in, the lights stay on. I checked the grounds on the tail lamps and the headlights and side lights. They appear to be ok. The interior dash lights work, The turn signals don't seem to work now. Haven't tried the hazards yet. All is not lost. The car starts. At least I didn't mess that up!! Any suggestions as to what I probably did for this to happen?  Thanks. Just as a point of reference, the tail lamps and running lights did function as they should (only on when I flipped on the switch) before I had to redo all of this.

Problem resolved - Bad hazard light. Figures. The 10 cent part causes the $1000 machine to fail. Once I replaced the hazard flasher, the turn signals and hazards started to work. The lights no longer came on as they were doing. Time to go out and get a spare flasher just in case

Wow, I would never have suspected that.  Glad you found it.

Now, that's a thing!  

I'm no auto electrician, so your first post went right over my head, but I thought "I hope I don't have an issue like tha as I'd be lost"!😀

That's certainly something to store in the memory in case it comes up again anywhere👍

Now that i think about the big picture here, which is,  what is always enabled that doesn't need a key in the ignition to be on (aside from the clock). The hazard lights.  So even though the hazard flasher was bad, it still allowed the lights to go on even though they weren't blinking. Like I said, I went out and got another spare hazard flasher.