'99 JGC - Problem with Lights

Some time ago, the lights my '99 JGC started turning on by themselves. This would happen some hours after I parked the vehicle. This occurred intermittently over a two or three week period. One morning, the Jeep was dead. The new batter had run down. I think that it was the light issue. I was told that the cause was probably the switch for the auto headlights feature and that I should turn the headlights on manually from now on. I have been doing this, to my dismay, as this is a feature that I like in the Jeep. I haven't had it checked out by the dealer yet but now the lights sometimes don't turn off when I manually turn them off. Does anyone have any idea what is going on? Thanks in advance.