Valid points as far as the language goes, but I'm not sure I agree with your points about workflow... the primary goal should be to see if they can reach the solution using the tools required for the job over how the tools are used in my opinion, and how much guidance they require to do so. I am thinking that the in-person coding might make them nervous. As a personal example for my specific line of work coding is more of a secondary requirement over having knowledge of how systems work, and despite having contributed code to some widely used open source projects and having enough knowledge to get by given language given enough documentation, I would likely freeze up in an interview if asked to code.

If I were you I would look for candidates that actually have some projects they can showcase that proves they know how to code, and offer them the chance to either do an easier in-person test or a take-home project. During the job search I personally jumped at the chance to do take-home projects since I view them as learning experiences, but for more experienced people I can see them being viewed as tedious. Most truly passionate entry level programmers looking for their first job and some direction I hope would jump at that chance to get some more directed experience as well.