When running sys-apps/hal-0.5.14-r2 I was unable to use lshal as a normal user (or access hal services any other way) but root could use lshal. Downgraded to 0.5.13 and it works again. I was unable to get any more information about the problem from my system.
Please attach your "emerge --info" and "emerge -pv hal"
Works just fine here. [ebuild R ] sys-apps/hal-0.5.14-r2 USE="X acpi -apm -consolekit crypt -debug -dell -disk-partition -doc -laptop -policykit (-selinux)" 0 kB