Unable to locate package python3-distutils in Ubuntu 16.04
Ultimately I got it working on 16.04 using a solution I found in this thread.
Try to run the following in the terminal:
sudo apt-get install python-distutils-extra
Per the user who provided this answer, it would seem that python3-distutils ends up installed as a dependency of distutils-extra, though why this method works where other methods failed for me isn't clear.