If I'm going to accept references, for me, they need to be established providers, who have a good reputation in the community. I don't care that they offer what I offer.
I would never accept massage providers as a reference, but that's just me.
There are plenty of us out there who are "Newbie Friendly".  In fact, I like first-timers because they always seem so excited and thrilled to be doing this.  
For a newb, I use employment verification.
Trust me, there are girls who will see you. You may just have to jump through a hoop or two.

she can give you a whitelist referral no matter what type of services she offers.  Whether or not another provider will accept it is up the provider.  You would do well to try to join one of more of the verification sites.  You will probably have to give up some personal information, but it is better to give it to a couple of sites than to several providers that you may never see again.  Gina at Preferred411 has a good rep for working with people to get them verified, they even have a toll-free number you can use.

As far as from state to state is concerned I can't really say.  I do have refs from girls in several different states, but have not been asked for refs in a long time.  I've been active for a number of years.

LLAP,
Swim