Try below cmds to check/start hostd service
/etc/init.d/hostd status >>>> /etc/init.d/hostd start
Check hostd status , if it's not started then check /var/log/vmkernel.log , /var/log/hostd.log and /var/log/vpxa.log
When esxcli cmd not working you can run localcli cmd instead of esxcli .
# localcli network firewall get
# localcli network firewall set --enable false
# localcli system maintenanceMode set --enable true
# localcli vm process list
# localcli vm process kill -w <World ID> -t soft (Shutdown VMs)