あなたはすき vs あなたをすき


I'm learning Japanese and one point that confuses me is the use of particles.
For this example, if I want to express 'I like you', which one should I use?

Grammatically, 'あなたをすき' seems to be the right one, but some people say they
will consider 'あなたはすき' more idiomatic in speech. I understand the latter one
could stand for 'for you, I like', but it could also be interpreted as 'you,
like (it)' (think of 'あなたはねこをすき'). These two ways of interpreting 'は' seem to
have completely different meanings.

Is my understanding of the uses of those particles correct? I'd like to hear
more discussion on that.

