Can I light the sides of a netherrack block on fire?

Netherrack will not burn on the sides. From my personal experience, the only items that burn on the sides are items that will be consumed by fire. You could make your walls stair-stepped and light each step to get that effect, but that would likely make your house much wider than you were planning.

If your house is made of flammable materials then you could create a Glass Dome. if your house is stone or anything else you can skip the dome.

after than drop lava down so it coats the house, this wont get you the flame effect and it'll make your house larger especially if you use a glass dome but you get your light level from the lava just like with fire and it adds a extra defense against mobs who follow you back. you can stop the lava from spreading on the ground by making a 1 block moat around the outside for the lava to fall into.

otherwise if you are just after a far off marker for your house at night you can go with a Beacon, you'll see it more than fire since the pillar goes into the sky and should be visible the moment the chunk is loaded.

I suggest making the wall columns like this:
fire
netherack
fire
netherack
ect...

You can also make patterns, such as a checkered one if you feel like having no 2 blocks touch. Remember that mobs can attack through the fire, so add some protection.