If you build a debug image with TAG=debug instead of TAG=vpp_debug then you get a binary but at runtime you hit an assert as seen below.

Building a debug image:

make V=0 PLATFORM=vpp TAG=debug install-deb

then running after the sample plugin is loaded results in this:

slioch@debian:~/vpp2/build-root$ sudo ./build-debug-native/vpp/vpp -c /etc/vpp/startup.conf
vlib_plugin_early_init:201: plugin path /usr/lib/vpp_plugins
load_one_plugin:87: Loaded plugin: /usr/lib/vpp_plugins/sample_plugin.so.0.0.0
/home/slioch/vpp2/build-data/../vlib/vlib/node_funcs.h:47 (vlib_get_node) assertion ` < vec_len (vm->node_main.nodes)' fails