Cannot open shared library libasound_module_conf_pulse.so

I upgraded from 16.04.1 LTS to 18.04.1 LTS. Sound was working fine in 16.04.1 LTS.

Unfortunately I now have no sound working on my PC (I use it as a mediaPC running Kodi).

In the /var/log/syslog I see this log entry on start-up:

Aug 24 18:20:43 mediapc alsactl[683]: ALSA lib conf.c:3523:(snd_config_hooks_call) Cannot open shared library libasound_module_conf_pulse.so
Aug 24 18:20:43 mediapc alsactl[683]: ALSA lib control.c:1373:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL hw:0
Aug 24 18:20:43 mediapc alsactl[683]: /usr/sbin/alsactl: set_controls:1482: snd_ctl_open error: No such file or directory

And when I try to run aplay or amixer, I get this error:

~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
ALSA lib conf.c:3523:(snd_config_hooks_call) Cannot open shared library libasound_module_conf_pulse.so
ALSA lib control.c:1373:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL hw:0
aplay: device_list:279: control open (0): No such file or directory

When I run pavucontrol for pulseaudio, it works - it finds the correct card, and when I click to play music the sound levels show that music is playing, but nothing comes through.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled pulseaudio:i386, alsa-base, libasound2-plugins but nothing works.

sudo apt-file find libasound_module_conf_pulse.so
libasound2-plugins: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/alsa-lib/libasound_module_conf_pulse.so

 dpkg -l | egrep 'alsa|pulseaudio|libasound' | pastebinit
http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/2SDVZjcNfN/

tail -2000 /var/log/syslog | pastebinit
http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/XBRh5GDXZr/

dmesg | pastebinit
http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/tnWYP5vK4G/

uname -a | pastebinit
http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/47pj5Zx4H7/

id | pastebinit
http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/SC9bQRRrT8/

amixer
ALSA lib conf.c:3523:(snd_config_hooks_call) Cannot open shared library libasound_module_conf_pulse.so
ALSA lib control.c:1373:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL default
amixer: Mixer attach default error: No such file or directory

aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
ALSA lib conf.c:3523:(snd_config_hooks_call) Cannot open shared library libasound_module_conf_pulse.so
ALSA lib control.c:1373:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL hw:0
aplay: device_list:279: control open (0): No such file or directory

pactl list | pastebinit
http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/B3wdz8r3jv/