I don't know what you read, but the launcher doesn't determine whether an app can get root status. An unrooted phone - with a "Straight up" launcher or a bent one is still unrooted and if you want to run apps that require root you still need to root that phone.
Of course, since just about every ROM you flash (including Cyanogen) is already rooted, claiming that you won't have to root a phone running Cyanogen is like saying that you don't have to add water to a glass of water to have water in the glass. Of course you won't have to root a rooted ROM (and have never had to) since it comes rooted. (Rooted or not rooted is determined by what files are in the ROM, not something you do to the phone.)
