Brake lights won't work sometime

This is driving me nuts! Sometimes the brake lights to my wife's 1999 Nubira won't light up. I checked the activating plunger switch to the brake pedal arm for looseness in mounting bracket and loose wires, nada. Sometimes the 'abs' light will come on when this happens and othertimes it will not. However I did notice that now you don't have to engage the brake pedal to release the gear lever, but you still hear the klucking sound near the gear lever when you apply the brakes. Night lights in the rear are not affected whenever this problem occurs, just brake lights. Also the rear window brake light will not come on at anytime now (I assumed that this bulb was blown). Where can I purchase a "service" manual for this car? Recently when I changed the rear disc brake pads the passenger's side was much more wored down than the driver's side, I assumed that this was a caliper release problem. Could this have anything to do with the brake light problem? Help me out fellas.