You probably just should have posted once; I'm just going to talk briefly about both shoes and pedals here.
IMO the best option for commuting is mountain pedals and mountain shoes you can walk in.
The biggest difference between road and mtn pedals/shoes is the bolt pattern for the cleats; road uses a three-hole triangular bolt-pattern, mtn uses 2 or 4 (most mountain shoes will have room for four bolts, some cleats will use all 4, some just 2).
For each bolt pattern, there are multiple types of pedals, and any pedals you buy (new) will come with cleats for that type of pedal. The cleats bolt onto the bottom of the shoes. I can think of 3 types of mountain pedals off the top of my head (I'm not gonna talk about Road), maybe there are more. By far the most common is Shimano SPD. Most off-brand mtn pedals (performance/nashbar, wellgo, ...) will conform to this same standard. Also quite popular are the Crank Bros. Eggbeater pedals. And on the luxury end, Speedplay makes a mountain pedal called Frogs.
My recommendation is to get pedals that have SPD-clips on one side, but when you flip them over, they're just standard platforms. That way you can ride with regular shoes whenever you want. For instance Shimano PD-M324 or Nashbar Rodeo (
currently on a pretty good sale), those are just examples, others may suggest more.
And for whatever mountain pedals you get, the matching/provided cleats should mount onto any mountain shoes. I'm happy with the shoes I have (Forte Traverse,
also currently on a pretty good sale).
Others may chime in with more recommendations and opinions, and perhaps even facts!