I have light switches that are not hooked to anything. when we turn them on they don't work. I don't know if it's hooked up the the breaker box. what i want to know if it's not hooked up to the breaker box can i hook it up to the outlet and make it work that way, by hooking a light to the outlet and make it work that way or is that a fire waiting to happen

Frequently in residential work, switches can be used to control a receptacle. Usually, the tab that connects the top & bottom half off the receptacle (on the hot side) is broken off so that only 1/2 of the receptacle is switch controlled. If someone replaces the receptacle without breaking off the tab, then the entire receptacle is hot all the time & you end up with a mystery switch.

what do you mean by breaking off the tab. I bought the house and everything was new in the house so what do I have to do to see what you are talking about. I know thee is no power going to it cause I have tested it and nothing

"I bought the house and everything was new in the house"

there you go.somebody "flipped"the house and goofed up the wiring.

so what do i do to fix it. all the utlets work it's just the switches in two of the rooms. help please

we were just guessing that someone replaced the recepticals and failed to note that the tab across the hots needed to be removed.
i see it happen all the time.

what do you mean the tab across the hot needs to be removed??

every duplex receptical has a snapoff tab across the hot screws that can be removed if you need to isolate one from the other for any reason.