The phrase Sat Shri Akaal is often used by Punjabis for everyday greetings. So whenever a Punjabi person (especially if he/she is a Sikh, but not necessarily) meets another person, the greetings are usually accompanied with a Sat Shri Akaal.

That being said, words like 'Hi', 'Hello' are colloquial equivalents of the phrase Sat Shri Akal, but not literal translations. However, for the translation, words like Hi and Hello should be avoided as the phrase Sat Shri Akaal has a religious aspect/meaning to it. So if a person is greeting someone with a Sat Shri Akaal, he probably wants to greet in a more respectful manner instead of informally saying a Hi, Hello. So it can be simply translated as 'Greetings', 'Greetings for the day'.

The literal translation is however different, as pointed out in the question. To answer your question - yes, the explanation does stand to reason.