After see the picture of Runaway Pancake, I must say that it seams that both of you ARE RIGHT! I didn't get it.
But I still don't like it for the other reasons that I point, and because I think that is "catching a fly with a hammer". That is, if you only need 4 switches why you should use 5? Is a assembly so important, so useful, and so well known that I don't remember of saw it ever. But yes, I shall admit that is possible.
@knut_ny: any voltage that can produce enough current in the base capable of put the transistor in the saturation. That is you must "play" with the voltage that you have in the base (constant) and the base resistor (that can be variable until you reach the current you want). If your base source cant source that current, yes, you need to add more components (more transistor in, for example, a Darlington pair)