English Translation
You may invite whoever you like.
Since the relative pronoun is an object, should it not be “que tu veux”?
Ah… Relative pronouns, yet another grammar rabbit hole. 
I’m not sure what you were taught on “qui” vs. “que”, but I guess the basic idea is:
- “qui” → subject
- “que” → direct object
That’s usually true when these pronouns actually refer back to someone or something in the main clause:
Subject:
Le livre qui est sur la table est à moi.
C’est un homme qui a fait beaucoup d’efforts.
Direct object:
Peux-tu me rendre le livre que je t’ai prêté ?
J’apprécie tous les efforts que vous faites.
In French, these pronouns are called “pronoms relatifs définis”, because they refer back to someone or something in the main clause. That someone or something they refer back to is called antécédent.
The main “pronoms relatifs définis” are: qui, que, quoi, dont, où.
Now for the “fun” part:
Some relative pronouns don’t refer back to anything, i.e they have no “antécédent” and therefore we call those: "pronoms relatifs indéfinis"
The main ones are: qui, quiconque, quoi que, où que.
As you can see, “qui” is in both categories.
“Tu peux inviter qui tu veux”, is an example of “qui” being used as “pronom relatif indéfini”.
“Qui” does not actually refer back to anything or anyone here.
Using the imperative might make it clearer:
Invite qui tu veux. = (Invite whoever you want.)
tldr: When used as “pronom relatif indéfini”, “qui” can be used both as a direct object (Complément d’Objet Direct or COD in French) and as a subject.
COD:
Invite qui tu veux.
Subject:
Qui sème le vent récolte la tempête.
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I was wondering the whole time if in this case it’s as simple as “whom you want” vs. “what you want”, because “qui” is predominantly used for persons?
After some research I found out that if you wanted to say “what you want” and use “que”, it would have to be “ce que tu veux”, and you have to introduce “ce” so that “que” has something to refer back to.
I think one of the reasons why this is a complex subject, is because the correspondence that exists in English between who/whom => people and that/which => animals/things, does not really exist in French.
Le chien qui traverse la rue…
Le livre qui est sur la table…
La voiture qui roulait trop vite…
L’avion qui a décollé …
What matters primarily is the function within the sentence and typically:
Subject → qui
COD → que
Still, I think you are correct when you say that “qui” is predominantly used for people, but I think this is mostly because people are more often subjects of a sentence, whereas animals and especially things are more often objects.
You are right.
"ce + que" is typically used for direct objects, when there is no antecedent:
Prenez ce que vous voulez et partez ! → Take what(ever) you want and leave!
Vous pouvez apporter ce que vous voulez. → You can bring what(ever) you want.
In fact, the same thing can be done with “qui” - “ce + qui” can be used for subjects, when there is no antecedent:
Ce qui est sûr, c’est que c’est compliqué. - What is certain, is that it is complicated.
Je ne vois pas ce qui te gêne. → I don’t see what’s bothering you.
Going back to the example sentence:
"Tu peux inviter qui tu veux"
I think “qui” is definitely the best way to translate “whoever” here. That said, as far as meaning goes, “qui” is pretty close to “celui + que” (singular) or “ceux + que” (plural), where celui / ceux would refer to the person(s) you invite.
Function: COD
Similarly, in “Qui sème le vent récolte la tempête.”, “qui” could be replaced by “celui + qui”,
Function: Subject
“Celui qui” could have been used and the meaning would have been the same. We use “qui” because that’s just the way it is, it’s a proverb.
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