Problems Multiplexing and getting data from I2C sensors

Because they are. You must not connect the "extra" sensor to the same I2C bus as this sensor will always answer requests on the bus. I must guess for the reason it seems to work if the extra sensor is actuated. Probably it's a question of the timing that the extra sensor doesn't override the reading of the multiplexed sensors once it is actuated but that's wild guessing as you do something that doesn't have a consistent behavior.