umm... what. Dude, check it out, that pair of eyes over there looks like an apple. Yeah totally, the eyes look like an apple...
This is just weird.
Maybe "sehen aus wie" should be taught as a whole phrase.
Just to see if i understood: Here we do not use "wie einem Apfel" eventhough it is after "aus" because this is in fact another sentence, subordinated "Ein Apfel sieht aus wie die Augen". Is that right?
The aus is part of the detachable (?) verb "aussehen," and doesn't function as aus does when you see it by itself.
The term you're looking for is 'separable prefix verb.'