Actually, for me... hitting my attacks even when the cooldown for them isn't up yet will still initiate my auto attack. I have my basic attack set to the 1 key and if for whatever reason the game decides not to begin auto-attacking, I just press 1 then it starts.

Also, I do support the idea of a command or ability that stops the auto-attack... especially given that there are some enemies with counters. Yes, turning can work but sometimes I hit a WS just before the counter-type-phase deal and my auto attack comes right after... wouldn't normally have been an issue in this game.