At the end of the day it would be up to you, nobody can stop you (unless no escort is willing).
I'm also incredibly awkward and girls/women always have been, despite having being with or just known said women I'll still be awkward around them, its just a thing. It's nothing to be ashamed of, I still feel awkward with my female friends who I have known for years, I've even felt awkward when in a relationship! Eventually I kind learnt to block out my internal screaming during social interactions of any sort, but nothing terrifies me more then a girl/woman saying 'Hey' to me, I just freeze up and turn into a stuttering idiot, I get better the more I talk but that awkwardness will always be there, its just your shyness/anxiety and its a part of who you are, its never going to leave you I'm afraid. Trust me I know.
As others have said seeing an escort why maybe a experience, enjoyable and help you feel better about yourself, it would only be in the short term as it is a business and you are their client, it would generally be a 'fake' scenario compared to what you would be faced with usually. It would also take more than a few hours with an escort willing to accept your money to get over your social anxiety with that one woman, never mind any others.
You may be feeling sexually frustrated or just overthink what it will actually be like etc, I feel I can safely say that in the 'moment', it becomes a very natural thing that your rarely actually need to think about, if you get to that stage with any girl/woman your awkwardness tends to break (if your like me however you'll spend too much time feeling awkward afterwards).
I hope this gives you an answer other than 'don't worry about being a virgin' as I understand its not all about that (but everybody else is right, not having had sex by 18 is not the end of world, I only stated actually in university, sex came about a year later, so you don't need an escort for that reason either).
If you want to go see an escort but are trying to justify it to yourself and others, then you already made your decision. If your genuinely asking, I hope I've helped with giving you some answers.