Usually, the ESC powers the reciever through the throttle channel. If the ESC has a battery eliminator circuit (BEC) and most of them do, the ESC regulates the whatever voltage that powers the motor down to 4.8 volts to power the radio and servos and powers it through the throttle servo plug.
Plug the throttle plug of the esc into the throttle channel and some servos in the other channels and as soon as you connect the main power battery to the ESC, your reciever should come alive and the servos should work with the radio.
If you don't already know this, recievers can be powered though any unused servo jack. The + and - servo wires of the servos connect to the same + and - busses that the battery connects to.