I'm sure there is something easy I'm missing, but here's what's happening.

I've created a master site and then 30+ sites off the created template

The problem is -- I want 30 independent sites. What I think I want is slave sites, but I get the following error
Unable to create the symbolic link [error_log] -> [/home2/eiumisco/public_html/class/error_log]

These sites are functional but:
1. the multisites component appears in all of the sites and any site can control the multisite functionality

2. change a login/password for admin on 1, it changes them all

3. change a template / article / anything on one, it replicates to all

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

"Error Log" is a file created by cPanel when there is an error.
So this file should be ignored when creating a slave site.

So in the "JMS Template" rule, set the action = "ignore" for the "error_log" file.

1) JMS should not be installed in the slave sites.
It is not designed slave sites from slave sites.
So few functionalities are disabled in case where you want to do that.
You should "uninstall" JMS Multisites in the slave sites.

2) If you shared the users, this is normal.
So all depends if you have shared or not the users in the "JMS Template" rule that you have created to replicated the website.

3) Verify that you are effectivelly connected on the slave site.
If you received a "red" message when creating the slave site then you are probably connected on the master and not the slave.
Ensure that you created the slave with success (blue message).