It wasn't in the patch notes but a fix was made for this issue with the November 13 Patch. They should socialize more now instead of just excessively hugging over and over. It looks much better to me personally, compared to when I saw the bug originally occurring last June. That being said, if you're on a lot with a limited number of items available for Sims to interact with, and all your Sims are Good Friends, then yeah they're gonna hug, which is by design.
Anyway, does it seem better for everyone else? Please let me know if this still seems like a problem for you and we can investigate (your save file would be much appreciated!)