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I think you may have been trying to use your story as an example of something that does not require a foundation for the skyhook to exist.  Your story, however, is a perfect foundationalist story (at least, in what I believe the definition of foundationalism is).  Although I can't tell whether or not you believe that these great manipulators are what put us on Earth in the first place (this would make them our creators), I still think this is a foundationalist story because it assumes that there is a greater purpose than the one we can see, a final outcome which we are we going to arrive at.

Actually now that I am writing about your idea, I am starting to doubt whether or not it is foundational.  As I understand it, your story does not assume that there is a finite set of outcome, only that someone is watching and observing what we do and what happens to us.  You also mention that these observers could interfere or influence what is happening.  Reflecting upon what I understand to be the definition of a foundationalist story, I don't think this makes your story one.  In no way do you suggest that there is a finite set of possibilities that are just being explored in different ways, I suppose that was just my assumption once I saw that some other, more powerful "being" was involved.  Honestly, I think my uncertainty about where to classify your story comes from my own lack of a solid definition of what a foundationalist story really is - and this is something I should definitely work on!

(on a slightly less serious note, I wonder how I would feel if I did discover that we actually were all pieces in a giant human diorama orchestrated by someone above us...I want to believe that I would just be impressed and amazed, but I can't help but think that I would simply feel betrayed and tricked.  would knowing that we were part of some experiment make life feel meaningless, or add more meaning to our lives?  I'm going to think about this some more...)