Would it be a non-planet for the millions of years it would take to clear its orbit?

Does Earth’s body/features magically change somehow for the duration of the clearing process, so that it doesn’t resemble a planet?

Clearing the orbit of other material, and in the process, accumulating it and incorporating it into a protoplanet is the process that turns a protoplanet into a planet. While that’s happening, it’s getting bigger and rounder and is constantly surrounded by impact debris that’s in the process of forming moons and rings or is in a decaying orbit. All of these are processes local to the protoplanet that don’t happen anymore once it’s become a planet.