"Your plate is on the table."
Translation:你的盘子在桌子上。
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In modern Chinese, the proposition is always after the object. And here 上 means the proposition "on".
在 has two meanings. If it is followed by a verb, it is the continuous marker. If it is followed by a prepositional phrase, it is the verb "locate".
So:
在桌子上 = locate (be) on the table
在上桌子 = getting upon the table (上, as a verb, means "get upon")
When you put 上 in front of a noun, it often makes it a verb，i.e. 上床, 上船。When you want to use the word to mean on something, it goes after the noun.
In fact, in English it's "on the table", and "on" means 上，but here you can't think in a English way, in Chinese, prepositions are always put afterwards, so it's 在桌子上，you can use this kind of pattern"在……上", which means "on... ".
上 in that position would be more like a verb, but is ungrammatical in this case anyway. As a location complement, always after the object!
盤子 like many nouns with only one character (比如: 椅子，桌子，房子，兒子/儿子，帽子，鬍子，杯子，叉子，筷子) is followed by 子, called the noun suffix, when the noun appears by itself.
I think it helps to resolve ambiguity inherent in speaking (none of those would be ambiguous when written).
Often when those same nouns appear in compounds the 子 is dropped.
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2020.8.14
盘子 itself is an ordinary plate
盘 as part of a compound character like 茶盘 means 'tea tray/plate'. When it's part of a compound, it's usually takes on the meaning of a particular type of a thing
For example,
杯子 is a drinking glass, but
玻璃杯 is a glass cup or a drinking glass make from glass
Mando doesn't really say 玻璃杯子
茶杯 a tea cup
酒杯 a glass for beer or booze
世界杯 the World Cup
That is just now how Chinese works. Please refer to https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_location_with_%22zai...shang/xia/_li%22 for more information.