Kinaed's compromise isn't a bad one, but in a case like the Queen's Inn, for example, it seems fair to me that people should be able to buy drinks or room keys while hooded (after all, there are shady vNPC figures sitting in a corner who deal in bounties). So simply determining based on "lawful or not" doesn't seem like the ideal strategy, IMO. If this is something that could be set on an NPC-by-NPC basis, that might be best.
A more clear-cut case would be allowing folks to buy drinks from Alf at the Blind Horse while hooded, which is currently not possible. As for PC-run shops, I don't really care one way or another.