On Ubuntu, rather than weeding through the rc folders, just look in /etc/init.d/ or /etc/init (for upstart).

To make a program not start on startup, either apt-get remove it, or chmod -x the init script.

I've used both Arch and Ubuntu extensively, and I like them both. For servers, I tend to use Ubuntu server edition, which really isn't that much different to Arch + a few hours of setup. It's really just a stripped down Debian flavored linux... nothing complex about it... but you do get the benefit of being downstream from lots and lots of testing, Arch not so much.

Pacman is 10x simpler then deb/ppa, so Arch is great if you like to tinker, or if you are building a special purpose system - eg for freeswitch, mythtv, xbmc, kiosk browsing, appliances etc.