The problem seems to be that you're always committing to a full combo, which is silly because exactly what you're describing is going to constantly happen to you. First time I run into someone I hit them with light > light and then see how they react to it and it's ridiculous how many people instantly mash out a 360. Assuming the person is guarding, the second I see the guard drop I move back and if they did 360 then I've got all the time in the world to hit them with a full punish, if they continue to guard, assuming I've reacted correctly, I can transition into the light > light > delayed light and a ton of other options including going into a strong, or strong charge cancel into throw and things like that. Same applies for when I land a hit, I leave myself room to evade in the case of them 360'ing and if they don't then what I said above still applies. The potential damage I get from a grounded combo is tiny compared to the damage I can get from punishing a 360 attack, which is usually death.
I only use 360s when I've got 2+ people on top of me and I'm going to die regardless of if I 360 or not, the reasoning behind that being that if I 360 and it hits then I live but if it doesn't then I was going to die anyway. It's all about maximizing your situations. If I get caught in a grounded combo what is the overall benefit of 360'ing? How much damage would I take if I just ate the combo versus the potential damage I'm going to take if my 360 whiffs? When I run into someone who just 360 spams it's like they're giving away free kills, I just play cautiously and launch punish them with a death combo.
Hopefully none of that came off as condescending or belittling.