Which item wouldn’t it let you hold? It seems fine for others and myself - are you tapping once to pick it up? It would be good to understand what’s happening considering the game lets you hold items for as long as you want.
If you’re talking about the plug at the start, then it’s on short lead and you have to use the extension cable to plug it in… the voice over tells you this as you’re playing. Do you have the sound on while playing?