They were decentralized and could go wherever adventure took them, though they were generally assigned to watch over specific areas. They still had large meetings sometimes or lived in more organized societies on planets like Ossus. Masters could have multiple apprentices. They could have girlfriends/boyfriends, spouses, and children, and there were even Jedi dynasties that were passed down many generations. They could join up with political causes and fight in wars that they thought were important, like with the reunification of the Empress Teta system or the Clone Wars. Related to this, they often worked for specific monarchs and nobles like Empress Teta or Bail Organa, a lot like… hmm… knights. They could wear whatever they wanted and often had very distinctive costumes.
In short they were the opposite of the prequel Jedi in almost every way, and it was much better. More creative, interesting, and varied stories were more possible.
Most of this is from the Tales of the Jedi comics and post-ROTJ books, as I’m sure you know.