iCloud is 'full'- I've deleted 30GB of files, but still 'full'

My iCloud storage has been full for awhile now, maxed out at 50GB. I deleted 36GB of this off of iCloud that had synced from my desktop (which I unlinked so it would not try to upload again). However, iCloud is still saying it is slam full and will not let me back my phone up. Reading forums outside of Apple, I am seeing many others with this issue. They call Apple support, get a ticket put in, and continuously get told that Apple engineers are 'working on it for them'. I know Apple is using cloud services revenue to make up for its decline in iPhone sales, are they trying to make me so frustrated that I pay to upgrade my storage anyway? I would expect better from Apple, but let me know if there is a way to resolve this issue. I've checked every which way and there is no files in the iCloud Drive, they are all deleted. I should be seeing over 30GB of available iCloud storage.