Drywall – Is it possible to create a drywall ceiling around pipes

I'm not sure it would be worth making any stud that couldn't take drywall. For walls, the drywall creates an axial load on the stud which it should easily support. But interior walls must also support an arbitrary lateral load, 5 psf in the US. This combined with the axial load is what would do it in. The manufacturer of the studs should publish span tables that tell you the maximum height wall for which you can use each style of stud under varying conditions.

I've little doubt you can find a 2.5" stud that works, but I'm not sure the proper gauge. That's where the span tables come in. Sorry I can't give you a final answer. All I can say is there's reason for hope.

The overkill direction (which is actually appropriate for some circumstances, such as a ceiling that needs to hold up a lot of insulation, as for an attic above) is to run 1x3 strapping opposite to the joists. An advantage in the application I mention is that this strapping can be on 12 inch spacing, so the drywall can be attached with a screw every foot, even if the roof trusses are on 2 foot centers.

In general, it is actually advantageous to leave the edges of the ceiling to float for the last foot or so, so long as you drywall the ceiling first and the walls after, butting them up to the ceiling before screwing them in place - the wall drywall then ends up supporting the edges of the ceiling drywall, but the whole is slightly less prone to crack in the case of small building movements as there's a little give from the floating edge. Here's a reference (they also suggest using corner clips.) Scoot down to photograph 4, and you won't be surprised to find that they mention the other point of view as being commonly held. As for it being "a developing point of view" only in building would something code approved for 30 or more years (per the above reference) be "developing..." An additional reference. And another. Search on drywall floating corner cracks for more references. And one in my comment on @bib's answer from the Gypsum Association; they might just know a thing or two about hanging drywall.