I sprayed a small amount of magnesium oil in the room and apparently some of the fumes were taken up by the air purifier and it seemed to short out the controls. Now the led lights indicating speed don’t work at all, the air cleaner sometimes changes the speed at which it operates. Turning it off or on is a mystery - I just touch unlit buttons until it fires up.
So I think I sprayed something that partially fried the electronics. I find it usually operates at whatever speed it feels like, going several days or weeks at one speed and then found to be operating at another speed sometimes. But, it works.
I read that you can’t operate a humidifier in the same room as an aircleaner for similar reasons - the advice article said one or the other would soon be disabled.
So the theme here is aerosols or vapor may short out or monkey with the electronics.
I have not sprayed any magnesium oil in the room. Maybe some furniture polish, but that was nowhere near the air purifier. Meanwhile, I believe those outlets work for other things. I'll have to try and test them by plugging other things into the same ones the air purifier stopped working in. BTW, I had all the switches and outlets in my entire house replaced last year, so they should not be old or worn out.