What scissors do you have? I got the Tweezerman ones from Boots for £20 and they are excellent.
You can test if they are sharp by holding up a strand of cotton and seeing if they can cut through it cleanly in one go. I read this on another hair forum a few years ago.
You could wipe the blades on a towel of tshirt or something to clean off any residue that could be on them, and use a wet wipe if they are really gooey (you'd probably be able to see if there was that much gel on them though)
Hold them up to the light so you can see between the blades. If the gap changes when you wiggle the blades (no opening and closing, just wiggling) then the screw could be loose. Some styles can be tightened with just a screw driver.
Craft scissor and punch manufacturers always told us to tell customers to cut tin foil for a bit to sharpen the blades, but I'm not sure this would work for hair scissors.
As for the trimming, have you seen Feye's self trim method? I'll find the link for you. It gives be a good U every time.
I can't comment on a hairdressers because I've never been to one!
ETA: Here's Feye's method http://community.livejournal.com/feyeselftrim
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