Combat ability wheel locked in place even when not in combat - cannot play

Combat ability wheel is locked in place for Rook & companions even when not in combat - NOT a settings issue - this is preventing further gameplay!! :(

I've hardly started the game on the PS5 when I ran into this issue. Everything was going along fine but then I started the companion quest An Unfamiliar Sense and as soon as I went through the eluvian into the Crossroads, the combat ability wheel came up at the bottom of my screen... wobbled and went in and out really fast a few times, then stayed in place and WOULD NOT GO AWAY.

I thought it was odd but continued on my way... except then I realized what a massive problem this was.

I can no longer jump up ledges or over gaps, because pressing X is a combat move, the game thinks now, since my combat wheel is open. To be clear, at the time this happened, NO enemies were present. When enemies appeared, I could no longer perform normal battle actions as I was able to before the wheel got locked in place. 

I can no longer dodge or roll either, because the game now thinks ANY button press is a combat move... hitting square isn't the casual attack it used to be, but now triggers one of my abilities, and if I run out of Mana, well, I just have to run around the battlefield aimlessly until it recharges.

I have included a screenshot of the combat menu that is now permanently locked to my screen so you can see it's not even the usual companion combat wheel I was used to, it's something else.

This appeared unprompted... I changed no settings and hit no weird button combination... just walked through the eluvian in the Lighthouse and it appeared when the Crossroads loaded in. :(

What I attempted to fix the issue: I tried switching out my companions, reloading a previous save and continuing from there, restarting the game, restarting my PS5, and searching for known fixes for this issue, but nothing has thus far resolved it. I went into the game settings and changed the Interface to NEVER display abilities, and then the menu disappeared... except the gameplay still acted like it was there. I still could not jump regularly or roll/dodge; pressing those buttons made me do an attack, instead. 

My settings previously were set to "Contextually" for the ability display and health, and yet despite changing the settings multiple times to try and "untrigger" the bug... no matter what the Interface settings were set on, the gameplay still insisted the menu was there and would not let me do anything except ability attacks, no matter where I was or what I was doing. :(

I cannot continue the game with this menu locked in place because I cannot control my companions in a battle adequately, I cannot roll or dodge or jump in battle or in non-battle, nor interact with some of the objects I need to interact with during non-combat travel or other quests!! 

I was really enjoying the game and this issue has brought that to a screeching halt. I am really, really, REALLY disappointed about this. Please help!