***Since objective evil cannot exist in the absence of the Creator of the Universe ***
Would not evil be more or less defined as the absence of God?
No. The (chas veshalom!) "absence of G-d" would mean . . . nothing. Not empty space, but . . . nothing.
G-d and evil are rooted in G-d's nature and decrees. There is no independent morality or ethics based on any other consideration.
It is not Theists who have a "problem of evil" to solve (since G-d is absolutely necessary to objective evil to exist). It is atheists who insist that even in a self-existent universe devoid of all meaning, some things are still objectively "evil."