I'm having the exact same issue but I'm noting that it also happens with google chrome. I am also using NVIDIA 331.38.
I also am experiencing this issue, with NVIDIA 337.12. Some reports elsewhere suggest that this is caused by not having a compositor, and so can be worked around by running xcompmgr.
This is a bug in the NVIDIA drivers and is fixed in their 340.24 drivers. You can also run xcompmgr -n & before XMonad as a workaround.
If the driver notes are accurate, this may also be fixed by 331.89.
I haven't seen it in a while, but I don't keep Steam open and for a while it wasn't reproducible like before, but still happened randomly ...
Closing (unless it still hapens for someone ?).
Nothing extracted yet.
For the Steam login window :
If I open it, and change workspace, the window is drawn (but not really present, the windows below get the clicks) on the workspace I moved to. It is drawn over the windows already there, and only "disappear", in part, when what is below is redrawn. Changing from there to another workspace without the Steam login window won't redraw it. Changing to the workspace containing the Steam login window and then again to a different workspace will make the Steam window redraw on that workspace.
For the client window, the same thing happen except no matter how many times I change workspaces (with or without going to the one where the window is) the Steam window is redrawn on them over the other windows. The Steam window is redrawn over the others every 1 or 2 seconds even without changing workspaces (unlike with the login window that is drawn once).
Other windows such as "About steam" or "system information" or "Product activation" work correctly even if they are opened over the client window. They don't get drawn on other workspaces.
The problem may be related to #3138 except I'm using xmonad as window manager and don't need to click any button to get that behavior.
It also may be related to #3099 except I don't try to "minimize" the window, because with my settings I'm not doing anything to "minimized" windows. I'm using xmonad with XMonad.Hooks.EwmhDesktops.
Also, it worked correctly in the past but I couldn't say which versions (of Steam and/or graphics drivers).