Has anyone hired a non-legal third party to help you close your loved one's estate? What did they do that helped you?

Thanking you all for your replies. As always, very helpful. :)

Yes, as an executor you can hire help for the various jobs you have mentioned.

As others have mentioned pet rescues often have foster placements and or can help rehome pets.

Faxing financial institutions should be done by the executor and does not have to be done locally.

A property management company can help keep an eye on the house. Make sure you let your insurance company know it is unoccupied. The premium may go up, but they can give you information on what to do to keep it safe while unoccupied. Instead of running water, it should be shut off.

Just in googling your city (which may not be where your parents home is located) I see several estate sales companies. Often a good realtor will work with an estate sale company and do many of the things you mentioned. A realtor would have other contacts as well. There are pet rescue groups that you could contact that while they may not take your breed would know who would.
Also there are pet resale shops that would take donations of things you wanted cleared.
I’ve known some estate sale folks who handled everything from shredding documents to overseeing lawn care. You just don’t know until you ask.
Some stagers (to get the home ready for sale) will do some of these tasks.
There are realtors who focus on 55+ communities. They are adept at getting properties emptied. They know people who will remove a great deal at no charge if you give them enough of what is of some value to make it worth their while.
This is such a tough emotional job that can be really hard work. The estate people take a big percentage but I believe it’s well earned, especially when you can’t do it yourself. I hope this helps give you some ideas.

What you are doing is giving up Executorship. The person is doing all the work executor needs to do so they should get the fee. A lawyer could do this for you.

I would get a legal consult from an attorney to confirm what expenses/costs that you will be able to get reimbursed for from the Estate you are administering. There are some expenses that are allowed and some that might not be allowed. The Probate office may have material as well. I'd check before paying that person or writing checks to them. Often, there is a Commission fee for the Executor. Would the costs for those services come out of that or can they come from the estate as costs of administration? I'd confirm that in advance.