Some course books and grammars seem to suggest that only the past perfect is correct when one past action precedes another. In fact, it is not used when we simply have a sequence of actions, as in.
She met him, they started dating, and eventually they got married.
In your examples, my personal feeling is:
1. past perfect likely; past simple possible.
2. past perfect likely; past simple possible.
3. past perfect unlikely; past simple likely.
4. past perfect very likely; past simple highly unlikely.
5. past perfect unlikely; past simple likely.
6 & 7. this will depend on what has been used in #4 and #5.
The complicator in your examples is until. This gives an additional past time point for references to other actions.
I must warn you that your course book may be prescriptive in its views on the narrative tenses and the sequence of tenses, and your teacher may disagree with me on the acceptability of some of my suggestions.

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