You are correct, I made the bad assumption that when the service buttons were disabled, the services did not already exist on the system. I will add the missing checks in the next iteration of the control panel but that work around will be fine in the meantime.
In regard to the privileges stuff in most cases, I think it will just bring up the UAC dialog or equivalent if it needs it. I do not know about any specific cases where it will crash yet if lacking those privileges.At the same time, I do not want to force Admin by other means because some people may not require Services and need it/be able to get it.