Some of the distributions I have seen place the Min/Max/Close buttons by default like Windows, and some like Mac, and my impression is that most allow you to change if you feel a particular preference.
Have any distributions tried anything else?

This is not a question that would have occurred to me before trying the Haiku distribution where (if I remember correctly) "Close" is placed on one side of a tab, while "Min?Max" are on the other side, and are simply treated as the same button, following the logic that if the window is one size, you could only want the other.

The moment I tried this, I liked it better than the conventional set-up where the three buttons are grouped together.

Obviously tastes differ, but I would like to know if this set-up (or any other unconventional layouts) have been tried or are on offer as add-ons.

I use an Enlightenment theme that places the buttons in the top left of the title bar. In my other computers, they are in the top right.

It look a little getting used to, but I can move between the two effortlessly now.

What I particularly don't like are interfaces such as Unity and the Mac interface that separate the menubar/titlebar and the open/maximize/close buttons from the application window. I like my overlapping windows, but I can use them if I must (from time to time I do some volunteer work which involved a Mac).

It really is a matter of just getting used to it.

That behavior is controlled by the Window Manager, which runs below the Desktop Environment or standalone. Some Window Managers can be configured quite a bit easily, others take more know-how. The Englightement WM that frankbell mentions is a good one to try.

Which distro are you on an which WM do you have at the moment?

As the above stats, it's dependent on the WM, and even further, some WMs allow even the theme to change that.

OpenBox, which I use, allows the buttons to be in any order, on any side of the titlebar. For example, I have mine set up like the old NeXT, or current WindowMaker/AfterStep: with Minimize only on the left of the titlebar, Close only on the right. OB will allow any combination in any order. IIRC even individual themes can override this. In addition even the titlebar text alignment can be changed.

Other WMs will allow only the theme to change that order, and yet others are set in their ways, and can't change at all.

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Being told of OpenBox looks like the answer to my question (I probably should have thought to start reading up on the different Windows Managers).
Now I have another excuse for not getting down to work!
Thanks.