@DaiReaver I'm not sure from your description whether you've finished the game on the main account. If so, did your child start a New Game +, or a regular New Game? The NG+ starts with abilities unlocked and some items already collected.
Either way, please also compare your child's character's abilities to what you've unlocked already, as in, does his Cal already have the abilities and extra skill points that would normally be granted through collecting Force Essences?
On my playthrough, currently I'm progressing through Jedha towards the pilgrims base, so nowhere near completed yet.
On my childs playthrough, he has only just reached Jedha for the first time, so quite a way behind me.
So we're not on any NG+, I'm aware that essences carry over into a NG+, however they shouldn't carry over between separate accounts on fresh playthroughs, you'd expect to have a clean slate experience. It does indeed seem to be acting like it might on a NG+ playthrough, however i can't be sure that the health/force stat boosts from essences are actually applied, so i'm unsure if it is using this carry over mechanic, or just not applying.
What I noticed is that all the force essence locations he comes across, they are only displaying the small light on the floor that we see as a remnant after collecting the essence. Thankfully it seems the perks do still appear for collection, So i suspect it is just the health/force boosts from the essences which he is unable to collect.
Again, I would say that there should be separate playthroughs between 2 different accounts despite being on the same PS5 device. They should not influence each other.
Regarding abilities, I'm unsure at the moment, I just asked him about Nekko mounting and the gliding exploration abilities and he doesn't recall unlocking them, he was able to just use them after the right part of the story passed. I'll try to keep an eye on him for when he encounters the mounts in Jedha. He doesn't have perks previously unlocked though, he can collect them normally.
@DaiReaver I agree with you that the two saves should be totally independent, and I believe they are under most circumstances. It would be interesting to see whether your child can use Force Dash after you unlock it, which will be during the Pilgrim's Sanctuary mission. (You can't miss it.) If he's not sure, try it yourself.
Additionally, I'm curious whether if you start another new save in your account, it also has the same issue.
