Opening thunar as root with dbus will do that. Opening non-root , you should be able to set it under preferences-Display-View New Folders Using List View and then also check -Remember View settings for each folder. If that does not work then something else might be going on. Ctrl+2 will also give you a fast way to switch to List View. I detest icon view .
dbus-x11 is still available via the AUR and is built with a flag, listed below, which will allow thunar to open in List View