You will have to check with other miners to fix upon a single currency to mine. Monero I think is still profitable. But cloud mining is not a recommended investment. You may loose all your money. Instead buy rigs and start at home. It is even better if you have access to alternate energy source like solar panel.
You are right with it there are newbies that are getting wrong for the description of 'mining' because there are some people who are inviting them to invest in cloud mining as it is just like the same as 'mining'. But they are very wrong with it for it is just a scamming scheme just to get their bitcoins. And for the real mining, I would say it is still profitable but your profit will just be putted into your expenses like electricity and other expenses as well.