You don't need any special plug-ins for a full normal mapping pipeline in maya (at least for maya 6 and better). I've posted a couple tutorials covering the basics of generating and viewing normals in maya (mostly so I wouldn't forget) http://chrisholden.net/tutor on the righthand side.
I want to learn how to use normal mapping, since I want to get into game industry and most of the job openings require that. 1st of all, do I need an extra plug-in to be able to achieve normal mapping in Maya? If not so, can anyone please post a link of a tutorial of it please?