What's the difference between state.apply and state.sls? When should I use state.apply vs state.sls?
state.sls <state_file> will execute the states in a specific file.
state.highstate will execute the highstate configured by top.sls
state.apply will do a state.highstate if no arguments are given and a state.sls <state_file> when a argument is given.
You can look at state.apply as an easy way of using states command.