I had the brakes repaired on my car bya Toyota.

It is indeed common and is partly due to the use of higher-quality linings. If the noise is worse in humid conditions, and goes away when the brakes warm up, there's not a whole lot you can do. There are some things inexperienced mechanics might overlook. One is to bevel the leading edges of the linings. A few passes with a flat file is sufficient to remove the "fingernails-on-the-blackboard" screeching. The backing plates of the pads should be coated with a high-temperature brake grease. That allows the pads to vibrate without passing that into the calipers where they act like megaphones. The pistons and calipers should have a flat file run over them a few times to insure there's no debris or rust that would prevent the pads from sitting squarely against them.