It is not obvious that the plotlist commands (at least the paraview plotlists) are affected by the latest applied selection command operating on the respective list.
I suggest removing the effect of selections on the plotlists as default setting to avoid problems.
Most users (as far as I know) would save a nodelist or tetlist if they intend to plot it later.
Alternatively, there could be a switch to make the last selection active or apply a saved selection.