The issue is whether the Early Church was hierarchical, not whether hierarchies also exist in Protestant settings. Also note that the quotes I gave you not simply set up admninistrative structures: they set up a liturgical and doctrinal structure as well, centered around the Eucharist and obedient to the bishop in all matters.
After St. Peter we had a short-lived papacy of St. Linus of which we know next to nothing; he was succeeded by St. Clement who was controlling things in Corinth over the heads of the local bishops, so definitely we had a papacy in the person of St. Clement, while the papacy of St. Peter is clear from the scripture.
My point was just to show that we also have leaders in our churches, a "type" of hierarchy, but we do not have a hierarchal system such as you do today. If the early churches revolved around a single Bishop (respectively), who led and delegated various responsibilities to "staff", then I was thinking that would be more comparable to the way Protestants do it today. However, I am still a little unclear on the role of the laity (if any) in choosing priests and Bishops. As I'm sure you know, in many/most Protestant churches the laity has sole discretion.
After St. Peter we had a short-lived papacy of St. Linus of which we know next to nothing; he was succeeded by St. Clement who was controlling things in Corinth over the heads of the local bishops, so definitely we had a papacy in the person of St. Clement, while the papacy of St. Peter is clear from the scripture.
But did St. Clement and other early Popes exercise power in any way comparable to modern day Popes? I can't imagine a communication system was established enough such that the early Popes could have "ruled" on something, and then word got out to all Christian churches everywhere. I also can't imagine the Orthodox going along with this. :)