Where do you hire henchmen? even as a fighter i could use SOMEONE... all I saw was the halfling, who wanted more gold than I had

If you're referring to the Original Campaign that comes with NWN, then the Trade of Blades in the City Core is where you can find several mercenaries for employment:

Daelan Red Tiger:Half-orc barbarian

Boddynock Glinkle :Gnome Wizard

Linu La'neral: Elven Cleric

Grimgnaw: Dwarven Monk

Sharwynn:Human bard

yea, but I couldn't actually FIND the building... guess I could try looking again... since my fool died alone.

Incidentally, as a fighter the halfling is probably the most useful henchman for you. He can open locks, disarm traps and when you charge in the fray head-first, he'll come up behind and deal a ton of sneak attack damage while you distract the enemy. Rogues and fighters make a great team. And the gold he wants is peanuts compared to what you'll soon find. Just loot some random chests in the city and sell the junk.

Alternately, bring a healer. Those are also useful for fighters.

Hire each of them, and talk to them each time you level up. Each of them will eventually give you a quest. And yeah, they don't cost a lot in the grand scheme of things. Sell more stuff!

Adding to that, each of them gives you a quest in each chapter.
BUT ONLY if you solved his/her previous quest in the previous chapter.
And there's no way to go back or get the quests if you fail at that.

No big deal though, no big rewards, completionist stuff.
It's just fine to pick one companion, but do talk to him/her now and then so you don't miss the quest.

Daelan Red TIger and Grimgnaw are probably the least suited for fighters companion, others should be fine.
As said, the cleric or the thief are probably the best picks, ability wise. But do pick whichever one you like.

I didn't pick the rogue because he was annoying,
picked the monk because he could keep up with me speedwise and was pretty low maintenance.