The only time I can't hunt for ghosts and get the light on or off options is because each item is haunted until you ghostbust it. Then each item needs time to regather hauntings. The vampire chains can take up to 30 minutes to recharge, while the paintings only need 4 minutes.
That's the absolute only time I can't hunt. I actually beat the timed hunting, then leveled one sim passed level 8 and everytime all of the ghosts are found, your ghosts are cleared and you refind all of them over and over, but get LPs and XP points