It is possible: You can transition from freelancing to a staff job, but it might not be fun. Just ask Kristine Hansen:

Working from home, I hadn't paid much regard to deadlines that an editor and art team had in conjunction with producing my story. I just wrote. I had no clue what their jobs were like. Now I know. They're hectic. And so while at first it was batty to have such a heavy hand in my story (sometimes I scouted properties to photograph, for example), I see how this helps out the staff. Had I known that providing photo suggestions or turning in an article early would have given me brownie points as a freelancer I just may have done those two things more often.