Sounds like you may still have some carburetor issues. When you cleaned it, did you remove all the jets and then soak the body in a solvent? If a passage is blocked with gummed up fuel it is going to take a bit more than just surface cleaning to clear it.
An overnight soak in a good carburetor cleaner solvent is recommended. Rinse off with water afterwards and then use compressed air to blow though all the passages you can get to.
While you have the carburetor off take the reed box off and inspect the reeds.
What plug are you using that you are having a hard time finding? If you are looking for something exotic it might be hard to find but you should be able to get a BR8ES at most auto parts stores and it would work just fine to get the bike started. You might want to use a cheap plug until you get the carburetor issues resolved so you foul $2 plugs instead of $8 plugs.
Rod