@creobella Before you do anything else, please delete the five cache files in Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3. They should be deleted regularly anyway, and every time you quit while troubleshooting. For reference, they are:
- CASPartCache.package
- compositorCache.package
- scriptCache.package
- simCompositorCache.package
- socialCache.package
Try evicting them and placing them back in their house. As long as you don't replace the sims with saved copies, they'll keep their jobs and relationships, although they'll lose their promised wishes and opportunities. After you've placed the sims back in their house, use "save as" to rename the save, quit, delete the cache files again, reload, and see whether the sims are back to normal.
If that doesn't fix everything, the home lot could be affected too. Evict the sims again, save the house to the bin, bulldoze the lot, replace the house, and move the sims back in. Again, as long as the sims don't get replaced, they'll keep their jobs and relationships. And please save as, quit, delete the cache files, and reload again before testing.