I got the house in riften and completed the help tasks, however when I go back to the Jarl to tell her that I did so, nothing happens..and I can't get the housecarl to show up. Anyone else with this issue?

That issue has been around since at least update 1.1 possibly before that... We just have to hope that it gets fixed in the next patch, as Bethesda has said that that's when we are supposed to be getting things such as quest fixes...