The outlet will still work if you connect the circuit wires to the wrong terminals, but the polarity will be backward. When this happens, a lamp will have its bulb sleeve energized instead of the small tab inside the sockets.

What happens if a switch is wired backwards?

If your outlets polarity is reversed, it means that the neutral wire is connected to where the hot wire is supposed to be. This may not sound like a terrible thing, but it is. There is always electricity flowing out of an outlet with reversed polarity, even if an appliance is supposed to be off.

Does it matter which wire goes where on a single-pole switch?

In the case of a single-pole switch, these wires are interchangeable—it doesnt make any difference which wire is attached to which screw terminal. Usually, its a simple matter of pigtailing the switchs grounding screw to the circuit grounding wires.