"what if a galaxy was not tilted but was positioned toward us perfectly face-on, so stars in the galaxy are neither approaching nor receding from us, from our point of view. would the tully-fisher technique work?

No, the Tully-Fisher technique wouldn't have worked in such a scenario.

Explanation:

For the Tully-Fisher technique to work, it is required that our view of the stars allows us to read their motion. If a galaxy would be in a position facing perfectly towards us, it would've been impossible to read whether the galaxy is moving towards us or away from us. In that case, the Tully-Fisher technique would fail and our distance from the galaxy would be incalculable.

Ba rock that formed 1,400 million years ago!