There's no "right" or "wrong" answer here as long as you aren't missing out on any matching payments, are contributing to your investment accounts in a way that's tax-efficient, and that the way you schedule your contributions fits with your own particular budget.
In my case, my company's 401k match is per period and there's no true-up provision, so I always want to be contributing at least 6% of my pay to the 401k to not lose out on the match. If I hit the deductible cap early, I can still get the match on post-tax contributions. I can also separate contribution rates for regular periodic paychecks and bonuses (both profit-sharing/variable-compensation plan bonuses as well as one-time special bonuses). Considering this, my personal strategy is to plan my contributions around my regular/non-bonus payments, contribute enough of my bonus payments to ensure I get the company match. The extra cash from the bonus payments goes into the Roth or my taxable investment account. In the end, my goal is to max the 401k while keeping take-home pay as predictable as possible.
I'm jealous of the poster with the auto max option. Since my match isn't trued up, I always end up needing to reset my contribution percentage at least twice a year in an attempt not to max until my final paycheck.
I usually end up doing something similar, but often I'll end up setting my after-tax contribution to 6% or so for the last couple paychecks of each year to ensure I still get the company max even if I hit the pre-tax cap.