Hello
Forlong, welcome to the 'Downs.
You've actually drawn me out of my Books' forum hibernation and have me thinking about your ideas in this thread.
One thing to remember, is I don't think the only measure of who Sauron would view as "worth more than 1,000 mail-clad knights" is a person's "power." I'll use Saruman as an example. Simply because Saruman would have been more powerful than Eomer, or Aragorn, does not mean Sauron would have viewed Saruman as a bigger threat to him. For Sauron knew Saruman was much like him:
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Sauron had, in fact, been very like Saruman, and so still understood him quickly and could guess what he would be likely to think and do, even without the aid of palantiri or of spies; whereas Gandalf eluded and puzzled him~HoME X: Morgoth's Ring; Myths Transformed
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Sauron knew and understood Saruman well, because Saruman, in fact becomes more like a cheap knock off, or a "Sauron lite" if you will. Where Gandalf, he could never figure out, suggesting he had more reason and cause to fear Gandalf. Similar to how Aragorn revealing himself to be Isildur's heir in the palantir, surprises and causes Sauron to doubt his plans. Doubt enough that leads to him launching his attack against Gondor sooner than planned.
"Over confidence" (at least Sauron as he is in Lord of the Rings) really isn't one of his vices. He was pragmatic, and rational, preferring order, coordination, knowing how best to employ his resources and not waste them. A very different Dark Lord/villain from Morgoth. He was perfectly fine with ruling and dominating the wills of people, I would even say he preferred it to spending resources to destroy people. An ultimate control freak.
So, I would add Gimli (and in general the dwarves) to the list. Dwarves were a resilient race, who were impossible for Sauron to tame. Gimli and Gloin go to Rivendell to report messengers have come from Sauron demanding information, but also a bribe to stay out of Sauron's business, and don't get involved. The Dwarves might have been a withdrawn race, but Sauron certainly remembered Durin's House always stood against him. And Sauron feared their involvement enough to try to bribe them into staying in their mountains.
I would not rule out a person's power as one of the criteria, but it wouldn't be the only one, and I don't even know if it would be the most important one, because of how Sauron conducted his business. He was more concerned about powerful individuals whose minds he did not know (Gandalf), or people who, in a sense, were beyond his ability to corrupt/manipulate into subjugation (Aragorn, Imrahil, the Elves, Durin's House...I can see an argument for Eomer, but not Rohan on it's own. I think the main fear Sauron had with Rohan was allying and bringing troops to Gondor's aid - and hence, why he was still leaving Saruman in Isengard.). Because if he couldn't manipulate subjugation that meant he had to spend resources to force subjugation, and Sauron did not like being wasteful unless necessary.