The planes are slightly varied in size, and some planes are bent slightly (I use several different sources for particle generation). The goal is to attach serious amounts of, say, post it notes attached to any kind of object, without intersections.
I am not experienced with this (first try, and satisfied apart from the intersections). Are there settings for this somewhere, or is it a python scripting task?
You may want to use the particle system to roughly layout the post-it notes across the mesh surface. Then make the particles “real”. And adjust any over lap by hand. Or simply edit the positions of the faces of the mesh distribution object to avoid intersection. There is no physics, script or automatic system to do this for you. (that I know of)
Yeah, I realize that is an option, but with around 6000 particles I could almost as well do it by hand entirely.
So, how do I get in touch with right kind of python professionals? The upcoming Blender Network for professionals seems promising, but right now I have very little insight in the python pros whereabouts. 
MoDynamic in Cinema 4D will do this, however.