First, the formatting comes from the TOC styles. Learn about them.
TOC Tips and Tricks by Suzanne Barnhill

Second, the table of contents you are seeing is a field inside a container.
Use a copy of your document and try the following:
Remove the ToC.
Insert a new ToC using the Insert Table of Contents command.

00 deleteme 2.png

The screenshot shown is from Word 2010, but Word 2007 is similar.
Generating a Table of Contents - Complex Documents

Then you can use Ctrl+Shift+F9 to unlink the ToC field. It will not be in a container.