http://tinyurl.com/26qf27

What's that thing bobbling between the two cosmonauts?

That was the flight of Soyuz TMA-9 with Truyin, Lopez-Alegria, and Anousheh
Ansari in the left seat waving to the camera. The thing bobbling is a toy
on a string that, in some form or another, is on every Soyuz flight as a
good luck charm. It also allows Moscow Mission Control to assess the
gravity gradients the cosmonauts are experiencing. Simple and effective.

The cosmonauts are also using sticks to operate some controls, I
assume because of the high g forces.

No, it's because the only way to get 3 people to fit in the Soyuz
unfortunately places them too far away from the control panels.

Have US astronauts routinely done the same

No.

or are the controls arranged to make that unnecessary?

Yes.