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The engine does not charge the house battery. The emergency start switch is simply for starting the engine off the house battery if your engine battery is dead.
When the battery disconnect switch is off for the house batteries, they will not charge.
Marine switches can potentially cost more, and by using a remote relay, the RV manufacturer can use shorter battery cable (which is also expensive). I think it is all just a matter of cost.
You could force the engine alternator to charge the house batteries if you installed a combiner, such as the Blue Sea (marine) 7610 Voltage Activated Relay (ACR). I have wired these into boats before.
These devices sense when the engine is running by monitoring for a higher output voltage (when the alternator is producing voltage). When it senses that, it closes the switch.
So you could wire such a switch across the emergency engine start relay.
Then, when the engine is running, the Blue Sea ACR would sense the alternator voltage and automatically close - charging the house batteries. And when the engine stops, the ACR would automatically open, isolating the house and engine batteries.
However, this means you may potentially be trying to simultaneously charge three batteries (engine plus two house batteries) as well as run the engine - and the alternator might not produce enough current to do all of that.
But the Blue Sea switch does have a remote shut off so you could defeat it's action if you wish.
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