No—Lightroom is generally reported to ignore .xmp sidecar files for JPEGs (and similarly for formats that can store metadata internally). Sidecars are primarily used for RAW formats like NEF, where the image file itself isn’t typically rewritten.

For JPEGs, Lightroom expects metadata to be embedded in the file rather than stored in a separate sidecar. So there isn’t a normal import setting to force Lightroom to read a JPEG’s external .xmp file.

If you already have metadata in JPEG sidecars, the practical workaround is to write that metadata back into the JPEG files first using another metadata tool, then import those JPEGs into Lightroom. As always, test on a small batch before doing this across a large library.