is there anyway to query information on ixgben from the esxi host
What type of other information would you hope to get regarding that driver other than its version? If you wanted to check if that was in use by any devices (although it sounds like you've already done this) you can run vsish -e get /net/pNics/vmnic0/properties | grep Driver and you'll be shown the driver and firmware of vmnic0. Replace the 0 with any N numbered vmnic you have in the system.