I wouldn't want to persuade you either way, really. There are a couple of points I would make, though.

1. You may or may not be right about the knee pain being related to the position of your feet on the pedals. But if that is the case, it could be fixed by repositioning the cleats on the shoes. And if you revert to clips and straps, you will still have the same problem to solve, except this time it will relate to making sure the clips are sized right. Finally on this one, are you sure it is the position of your feet on the pedals, rather than your position on the bike, that is causing you grief? Might be an idea to keep an open mind until after your fitting.

2. Clipping in and out for stop signs etc. really does become second nature after a while. Those who aren't used to clips and straps find it takes just as long to get used to catching the pedal right to re-insert their foot.

3. Walking in road shoes isn't the best. But if you wanted to stay clipless and avoid this problem you could switch to SPD pedals that take shoes with recessed cleats.

Having said all that, despite the simplicity of going clipless, their functional advantage over clips and straps is relatively small. The priority is to keep your feet where they need to be, and both systems work for that. I think I'm right in saying that when clipless was first introduced, Sean Kelly - for several years the no.1-ranked pro in the world - declined to use them because he felt they made no difference to him.

The advantage of clipless isn't really that you pull the pedal upwards, but that you can aggressively "unweight" the pedal, so you aren't pushing against the weight of your own foot, without your foot slipping. But you can get some of that with clips, and as you say, you aren't going racing. Do whatever makes you feel best. You can always keep the Look pedals and go back to them later, if the fancy takes you.