It's important to remember that much of this story is a metaphor for ideas and values presented in earthly society. Employment under Yubaba equals a sense of identity gained through belonging, whether to a specific place, or to a community that supports a common interest through collective work and social interaction. Although Yubaba's employment comes with a price, for one who has lost their sense of place and belonging it may well mean the difference between life and death; thus both Chihiro and Haku have an overriding need for Yubaba's employment that trumps the fact that their boss is a somewhat mean, ruthless, witch.
Yubaba's control comes through her exploitation of this need for identity, belonging, and place. The motif of stealing identity through stealing one's name should be fairly straightforward, though it need not be ironbound within the deliberately ambiguous Spirit World. We can't ever be totally sure who controls who here, just as we see Yubaba herself in alternating control and subservient roles: sadistic taskmaster, ruthlessly efficient workplace manager, or harried mother to a giant fat child; we even see a twin sister with a polar opposite personality who may or may not be part of some odd symbiosis.
The Bathhouse is presented as an analogue to any earthly place of employment, where workers quarrel over tidbits, kvetch and complain about conditions, customers, and their bosses; this motif is as common in Western storytelling as it is anywhere else, and should not be taken too seriously. Does Kamaji leave? No, and we assume that the ticket he gives up to Chihiro is the only one he has. Does Lin leave? No, not so far as we know, though we might infer that her own increasing self-assurance will win her a better position in her chosen place... or not; maybe Lin is simply fated to be who she is, no matter how much she complains about it.
As the kami (spirit) of a defunct river, Haku, having lost his sense of place, is forced to assume the identity of Yubaba's henchman, even though this involves doing things for her that may be bad; this was the price he paid for maintaining his own existence. Having regained his name and identity at the story's end, Kohaku resolves to leave Yubaba's employment, meaning that her power over him has ended. And also, the evil-black-controller-slug got squished. So there's that.
What is also important to remember is that the purpose of the story is to demonstrate how self-reliance, self-assurance, the willingness to work and apply oneself, and sometimes the aid of a true friend or two, will result in goals obtained and obstacles overcome. The motif of being true to oneself is also presented as a crucial goal as well as a key personal value whenever one finds oneself in a new place, or a new environment. This is as true and as prevalent an idea in the 'Odyssey', 'Tom Sawyer', 'Alice in Wonderland (to which this film is frequently compared), and even Peer Gynt, as it is in 'Spirited Away'.
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