As far as Taqleed in Aqeedah goes, Sheikh al-Shathri in his book on Taqleed:
http://ia600408.us.archive.org/15/items/waq6213/6213.pdf
covers these issues in brief from pages 39 to 112. The topics are:
- Taqleed (i.e. accepting a scholar's statement) in monotheism (Tawheed)
He says the the overwhelming majority of Sunni scholars said that Taqleed is Haram in this, i.e. he must believe in this out of conviction, not by merely following a a scholar or because someone told him so.
- Taqleed in considering the Message of the Prophet to be correct
He says that this is like the first hence it is Haram to do Taqleed in this. I guess this and the above are the Kalimah, [FONT="]لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله[/FONT] - one must believe in the meanings of this out of self-conviction and acceptance of the evidence (called Ittiba`, because it is clear-cut, not Ijtihad), not out of Taqleed.
- Taqleed in the [other specific] fundamentals of the religion [at a granular level], like the Sifat of Allah, destiny, etc.
He says that it appears that it is permissible to do Taqleed of a scholar in these items, because these are granular pieces of information and in that sense resemble like plain Fiqh (Furoo`) insofar as the layman is concerned.
- Taqleed in the pillars of Islam (i.e. those items of practice in the faith which are known by necessity, there is no doubt about them, like the necessity of Salah and fasting)
Taqleed is Haram in this. One must believe that these are established in the Deen of Allah without having to resort to a scholar's verdict (Taqleed) to actually believe. The knowledge of a scholar and a layman in the necessity of these things - like Salah and fasting - is equal.
- Taqleed in Usool 'l-Fiqh
(This is mainly a rule for scholars and Mujtahids, whether they are allowed to do Taqleed of other scholars in this subject or not; nothing to do with laymen)
- Taqleed in the Furoo` (standard Fiqh)
After mentioning the two opinion, he brings the evidences for both and concludes that the opinion of the overwhelming is that Taqleed is permissible (i.e. not Haram) for people who have no knowledge, i.e. it is not necessary that they go out of their way to do Ijtihad and go searching for evidence.
- Taqleed in innovations
He says that if he is in a place where there is innovation and he has no idea of the true Sunnah, then he would be excused and would not be sinning. However, if he is in a place where people oppose that innovation, he should assess the situation and ask the trustworthy scholars about it. (I add that if he is still confused about it, then he would be excused).
Now these are not hard categories, there might be a bit of overlap between each other, but this is just to start a person off in understanding the matter.