Sounds to me like it might be a lathe and plaster application and not a sprayed 'popcorn' application? If it scraps off with a putty knife, easy job, scrape, touch-up mud, paint, etc. If it's lathe and plaster, take the car for a drive and forget about it!!!
Ceilings 'can' be the most expensive surfaces to finish, that is why they are done so cheap; they're a pain in the but! Changing from sprayed texture to paint grade can add alot of costs to the home construction, costs that typically are not recoverable, but personal taste. I have built a few homes with painted ceilings and crown mouldings, looks very nice, but uncommon.
My vote: forget about it.
Paint them if you must?
Cheers
