I as a general rule don’t want to have less than 5 in a given stat because 5* is the highest any one perks goes. So taking 5 in everything would future proof you against being able to use any single 5* perk that comes out later.
That being said, in a few of my build idea I do only raise Perception to 3 for the very reason you cited. Max lock picking and nothing else beyond that is needed for some builds. There are probably other stats that are similar depending on the build you want to make but it seems to pop up more in PER for me than any other.