Hey Buster,
There are a gazillion hotels in Pattaya, and knowing where one prefers to stay is ultimately a process of trial and error. I've stayed in South Pattaya, North Pattaya, and Central Pattaya, and they all have their plusses and minuses.
Remember that getting around via baht bus is really easy, so where you stay is not really that important in terms of proximity to beer bars, go go's , etc. In fact, you might find that its better NOT to take a girl from a bar next door to your hotel, as you will then be needing to avoid her if you want to persue more variety in the future.
I stayed at this hotel on soi 13 last year:
http://whitehousecondotel.com/index.htm . It's fairly new, centrally located, and was (at the time) very clean, quiet, and comfortable. You can get a standard room for 1250 baht after May 1, or in low season. There are a couple beer bars right across the street for easy access, if you want to go that route. This is just one reccomendation - there are tons of choices.
Re: freelancers in Pattaya - Instead of that, how about just shopping in beer bars? There are tons of girls, bar fines are only 200-300 baht, and most of the girls won't expect more than 1000 baht short time, or maybe a little more for all night.
Have a good time!
-- Mr. Plug