Q: Do products that say they will "Clean my Mac" really work???

No. It is bullhockey!

If so, what program would recommend??? Thanks kkkaaaddd

Absolutely nothing. Your Mac will run much better if you don't try to "maintain" it.

What third-party software do you have installed?

How much free disk space do you have?

How much RAM do you have?

What programs do you have open at the same time when you see the beachballs?

Well that's different. The utilities you mention usually do more harm than good. You're Mac doesn't need "cleaning", it maintains itself. Let's troubleshoot the specific issue...

First of all go to your  Menu > About this Mac > and tell us Version, Processor & Memory specs on your Mac. Also available hard disk space, by choosing your Macintosh HD and "Get Info" (cmd-i)

Create a new user account or use your Guest account and test with the same apps. Can you reproduce the beachballs?

EDIT: Your specs are fine.

No problem. Take your time. I'll be in and out today, but Barney is also very capable of helping you.

Apple support article covering what macjack suggested:

Isolating an issue by using another user account

If the applications work fine in another account, try using your regular account in the safe mode.