why am i being charged $2.99 monthly for ICloud?

That would be the price for the 200GB iCloud storage upgrade.

You would be getting charged that because you ostensibly upgraded your iCloud storage space at some point.

If you no longer want this you can downgrade to the free 5GB option by following the steps here:.

Downgrade your iCloud storage - Apple Support

Check your purchases list then on one receipt on which the charge features, fill out the 'report a problem' invitation then wait for a reply.