Finally I solved the mystery with why my sustain pedal was reversed. Thought I’d post it here in case somone is as stupid as me 
It seems the MIDI keyboard interprets whether the pedal is pressed, since pedals can behave differently. This is from the Evolution FAQ:
Not sure how it works with other keyboards. My keyboard is powered on with the computer and it seems I have never had the pedal plugged in when starting up. Alternatively you have to actually use the on/off switch after plugging in the pedal, I haven’t really investigated this. Either way I feel really dumb for not realizing this until years after I bought the keyboard 