Every market is constrained by laws and regulation. Contract law, environmental laws, labour laws, health and safety standards, taxation, levies, tariffs, sanctions, etc. etc.

There has never been a free market, it's a theoretical construct.

Nowadays it seems to me that the mindset of many has become that Free markets are the only way to go and Planned market strategies are set to become a thing of the past — dclements

It's the post-truth era. It can be demonstrably true that free markets not only destroy the world but themselves and still the post-truthers will say nothing else works. At the end of the day, free markets overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest few, and the wealthiest few have managed to convince us it benefits us.

I'm wondering if anyone out there has any insight and/or opinions on this topic. — dclements

It is my opinion that there are two values: 1. Need; 2. Want. Free markets provide an incentive to locate that which is needed, free, and abundant, and then reduce it to a point where it is no longer free and can then be sold. (There is a long history about how "ownership" is obtained in the first place, but that is another issue.) Suffice it to say, we pay for food, clothing, shelter, space, and now water. We will be paying for air. People, on the other hand, are becoming more abundant. Someday they will be virtually free if you can take them. Maybe the owners of air will offer air in exchange for services. Hopefully you have something to offer that they want. Are you hot? Can you provide security? Foot rubs?

I'm wondering if anyone out there has any insight and/or opinions on this topic. — dclements

The labor market aspect of the free market is still fairly broken in the US. Low wage people can't switch jobs without risking losing their job in the process of looking so they are exploited by the lack of mobility. The system is sustained as long as the products are being made by people who make a tenth of our minimum wage.

A planned market isn't really a thing anymore. Even in North Korea you see a literal open free street markets. It's like planning how all the trees would grow to make a forest. It's impractical at best.