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The problem with saying that Sauron can only influence and not interact, when without Hroa, is that he somehow managed to get the Ring from the sinking Numenor to Middle Earth proper, as Raynor reminded us a few posts back. How did he do that? By the power of the Ring, perhaps? Or was Sauron partly in the Ring, such that he could be considered to have been incarnate even though his body has been destroyed? I think it is an unnecessary conundrum, and the answer is that a fëa does not need to be in a hroa in order to interact/influence/change Arda, depending upon the power of the Maia we're discussing, of course.
As for Gandalf, there is a bit of a mystery there. That Gwaihir says he can see through him could indicate a couple of things:
1. Gwaihir can see hroa-less fëar
2. Gandalf's hroa was transparent
I lean toward the second, because Gandalf perceives Frodo as somewhat transparent, lying in the bed at Rivendel (quite early in the tale!); I think we can take it here that Gandalf is looking at Frodo with his hroa eyes, by the way.
So Gandalf has been taken out of Time and placed back in Time. This must have been accomplished by Eru since such an action is beyond the capability of any of the Valar. The battle with the Balrog has, first of all, killed Gandalf. His hroa is dead. But his fëa is taken clean out of Arda, not sent to the Halls of Mandos; then it is sent back again to the very same Time and Place (give or take hours/days/whatever). And the fëa is reconnected with its hroa, but revivified and made less "fleshy" by his battle with the Balrog. This has precedent throughout the Legendarium; not only with Frodo, but with the greatest of the Elves; the more purified (burning with the inner fire of their own fëar usually) the Eldar become, the more transparent they become. This seems to be evident with Elrond too.
(It's interesting how fëar are represented as the element of fire...)
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