Were the Orcs (Goblins) under Sauron's control?

[Mandos]

Were the

[Inoldonil]

Assuming the comment of the post was going to mirror the subject, I'm not sure I follow you. All Orcs were not really enslaved to Sauron by will like the Ringwraiths were. Those that he governed he could guide to a certain extent with his will, and when he was destroyed they lost all hope and a madness took them. The Orcs of the Misty Mountains you meet in the Hobbit are not governed by Sauron. At the time his immediate domain was Dol Guldur in Southern Mirkwood. Orcs in the Elder Days were filled with the will and power of Morgoth, the Dark Enemy, of whom Sauron was just a servant, so in that respect they do have a greater tendency to evil than all other peoples, and ultimately, from a moral standpoint anyway, are enslaved to the Enemy.

But if, as I think, you are asking whether the Orcs of Goblin-town were acting completely under the will of Sauron, than I would say no. They were individuals and far removed from Sauron, who had no clue Gandalf, a Hobbit and thirteen Dwarves were trying to cross the Misty Mountains. Politically and militarily, the Orcs you meet in the Hobbit would be under the control of the Great Goblin, and the King at Mount Gundabad (Bolg).

[Grand Admiral Reese]

Well, they have some free-thought of their own. They were sent there by Sauron many centuries earlier to harry the Dwarves, but Sauron was more concerned with regaining his power and fighting off some Wizards than directing some Orc-bands at the time of The Hobbits.