He has to come to a rest exactly on a tile then (so he's up exactly against the wall) doesn't he?, so surely the same problem applies? Err.r.......
In a platform game I would check for the wall. But, the sprite doesn't necessarily have to stop walking when he reaches the center of the tile. (What if your sprite is very narrow and your tiles very large)
But yes, you are right when you say that in theory the same problem applies.

If there is a wall in the sprite's path I usually calculate the number of pixel to the wall, and then use that information for the next update.

Say pixels to wall = 4, and sprite speed = 5 then in the next update the speed is not 5 but 4. (or 2 to have some room between the sprite and the wall)

I believe you could do the same thing. Detect the kind of tile in front of the current tile and handle accordingly. If there's no obstacle, do nothing, else calculate the remaining pixels (in your case to the center of the tile).