Yes, this happens. There are several such applications in fact (this is very basic stuff):
autodesk backburner (you should have this installed)
pixar's tractor
renderpal
squidNet
...
lots of scripts from this site:
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/applications/render-managers/c/
Thing is tough its only tedious because your launching things by hand. Its very easy to write a script that launches many of these frames form command line. It takes just one for loop, and it does not get easier than this. The render management software bring in some control over render failures tough. But essentially these ere very simple pieces of software. So everybody and their dog tends to have their own system.