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Nah, I've found both classes to be quite useful.
The paladin is nice as a defensive warrior... LoH can allow you to hang in there with some tougher enemies without requiring your druid/cleric to move in. And with how Protection From Evil is just a 2 ac bonus, well, makes that a great paladin special ability. The priest spells also come in quite handy, mostly the high level ones. Not to mention paladins are the best to hand 3 White Doves to.
I'm much less impressed with the ranger, but again, it comes down to using his spells. The druid spells are quite nice. Ensnare, summon animals, and the like. Perhaps if you'd been able to actually charm a few animals instead of not even getting a save message, rangers would be more useful. Ranger spells cover a wide variety of things... which is why the multiclass ranger/cleric is probably the most popular class to solo the game with.
Much of it has to do with party composition, of course. If you are running clericless, the paladin's priest spells become more useful. If your mage is a conjurer (no summoning spells), the ranger summoning spells come in very handy. If you have a druid in the party who you aren't relying on to heal... then why bother with a ranger?
The primary advantage I see to fighters is not weapon specialization. It's levelling. Lower thac0 makes a big dif. And specialization requires such a big commitment. It is nice to have party members that are proficient in a large variety of weapons... you never know what nifty toy you can come across. And for that, the paladin and ranger are quite nice.
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