1. Was there all that rotted food and maggots in his house even before the Cenobites took him?
2. Why did he need to have a square of candles around him when he opened the box?
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1. It might have been. I got the impression that Frank wasn't officially living there(even if he did technically own it along with Larry), and merely used it occasionally as a safe house. I mean, he didn't even have an actual bed in the bed room. Most likely he left whatever food he had out to rot and attract flies whenever he'd leave on another "adventure".
2. In The Hellbound Heart, Frank is told to make ritualistic preparations for the arrival of the cenobites in order to "nurture their good offices", which included an altar, the floor being strewn with rose petals, bones, needles, bonbons, a plate of dove heads, and a jug of his own urine(should the cenobites require a spontaneous gesture of self-defilement from Frank). I assume the arrangement of candles around him was a simplification of all that, basically a visual shorthand meant to indicate some sort of occult ritual.