RDO trap

So, I bought rdr2 this summer, and after playing the fuck out of it, I wanted to play online, but I didn’t had ps plus (ps5), so I bought the 20 dollar rdo only version, but when I tried to play it, it said I needed ps plus to play it, it was 1-2 weeks ago, now I know I just wasted 20 bucks and I just wanted to share this and ask if it’s normal that the online only version needs ps plus to be played