The rule of thumb I always use is the thicker the sauce the thicker
the pasta. A thick cream sauce, like an Alfredo sauce, if you pour it
on angel hair and try to twirl the angel hair it will likely
disintigrate. But if you use a thick pasta like Linguine, it will
hold up better. For a thinner sauce like a spaghetti sauce, thinner
pasta like spaghetti or vermicelli works better than linguine. Elbow
Macaroni is the universal pasta, I think, in that it will hold up to
an Alfredo sauce or a cheese sauce, but you can use it with spaghetti
sauce too, cooked in a casserole is the best way to serve it.

Some pastas, it seems, are single use, such as Lasagna noodles. I've
never used them any other way except in Lasagna type recipes.
Linguine is one that has few uses outside of Alfredo sauces and clam
sauces. I like Linguine noodles in pasta salad where when I make it I
will switch up the pastas and use a little spaghetti noodles, some
Linguine, some elbow macaroni, a few bowties in my pasta salad and mix
it with the onion, tomato, peppers etc.

Some pastas seem to be regional. When I lived in the northeast and
midwest, Rigatoni and Mostaccoli (?sp) were very common to see on the
menu in Italian restaurants, but in the south where I live now, unless
you are first or second generation Italian or grew up above the Mason
Dixon line, you've probably never heard of them.