SO much this. Having gone from salaried employee to freelance consultant, and now to running a product-based business, I've come to the conclusion that being paid per hour is anathema to the quality of my working life.

I agree that it's better to get paid to finish a task than to spend time on a task. You have greater independence and, IMO, can provide greater value to the client. It does introduce new sources of stress, though: if you misestimate the scope or difficulty of the project, the financial burden can be sever and you have more responsibility for delivering on time. With experience, you do learn to both budget for unforeseen delays and make agreements beforehand that limit the scope of your responsibilities when, e.g., the client's spec evolves as the project goes forward.

Exactly. All you need to do is charge on 'per project basis'. But it's fare to say that not all freelancer can do this. There isn't really such thing as a 'freelancer'. A coder, a writer, a designer, a virtual assistant - these are entirely different lines of work.