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I agree that flat-out banishment of any tool (adverbs, semicolons, etc.) is almost certainly wrong. Though many editors and agents will shake their heads if you use more than one or two semicolons in a novel. They are pretty far out of style.
Looking at your examples is instructive, though.
Semicolons seem particularly unnatural in dialogue. Nobody transcribing a conversation would ever give a moment's thought to using a semicolon; they're just going to write it as two sentences. The fact that those sentences are consecutive will typically be enough evidence that the ideas are closely linked (which is what the semicolon is supposed to mean, after all). If you read dialogue in popular mainstream fiction, you might also see the intentional use of a comma-splice as a way to run two short sentences together.
If you want/need a pause in the dialogue, don't use a semicolon. You need something that separates the ideas, which is the opposite of what a semicolon does.
As others have mentioned, an ellipsis can show hesitation or a trailing off of words. Dashes set off interruptions--either in the flow of an idea or in the literal case of a speaker being interrupted mid-sentence. A more significant pause, as you might have when a character collects their thoughts, can be indicated with a bit of business, like rifling through the files or pouring a drink.
It's easy to overdo pauses. Screenwriters are told, "Don't direct on paper." Let the actors/readers determine where most of the pauses go. Good dialogue rarely leans very heavily on punctuation. The right words in the right order go a long way. Save the explicit pauses for the really important moments. Less is more.
Outside of dialogue, the occasional, properly-used semicolon can give a passage an air of academic rigor. So, yeah, have at it in those passages.
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