According to Microsoft support the only way to achieve this goal is to
re-install Azure Connect and tell it to use a specific field to create
new users in Azure AD.
I don't know where you read that, but it isn't correct. Here's what I'd suggest:
Here's what I'd suggest:
Reconfigure Azure AD Connect to sync an empty OU. This will put all of your AD accounts out of scope and will cause them to be deleted in Office 365. Note that this will only affect the user accounts that have been synced from on premises AD. It will not affect your existing Office 365 "cloud only" users.
Add your Office 365 verified domain as a UPN suffix in AD.
For one AD user account set the new UPN suffix on their user account. Make sure that the User Logon Name matches the Office 365 username for the existing Office 365 "cloud only" user ([email protected]). If it doesn't, change the AD User Logon Name to match the Office 365 username. This won't affect the AD users ability to logon to the domain, unless they're logging on with their User Logon Name.
Permanently delete the Office 365 account for this user. - https://practical365.com/permanently-remove-deleted-microsoft-365-users-from-azure-ad/
Move this user in AD to your empty OU and initiate an Azure AD Connect delta sync cycle. The user should now be synced to the existing Office 365 user account. If it is, then repeat the above for all of your AD users. If it isn't then open a support case in your Office 365 tenant.