Nothing in dashboard that uses javascript works

This is more likely that you updated to or beyond WordPress 5.5.

With the update to WordPress 5.5, a migration tool known as
jquery-migrate will no longer be enabled by default. This may lead to
unexpected behaviors in some themes or plugins who run older code.

This tool was removed in 5.5 and it’s breaking many sites. Look for a plugin called jquery migrate helper. I’m betting that this will fix your problem.

As a note, this is a TEMP fix for the problem. This plugin will provide more information to solve the issue but it will not solve the main issue.

Your other option is to downgrade to an older version of WordPress temporarily on the live site and then address the issue on a staging site by updating your themes / plugins.