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Both clean URLs and URLs ending in .html can work for a website. The practical priority is consistency: choose a preferred address, link to it internally and redirect an old equivalent where appropriate. A cosmetic URL change is not a guaranteed ranking improvement.
Choose a convention you can maintain
For example, /solutions/services and /solutions/services.html should not compete as separate versions of the same page. Decide which is public, update menus and blog links, and keep the alternate route working through an intentional redirect.
A canonical tag can indicate the preferred address, but internal links and sitemap entries should support the same choice. Conflicting signals create unnecessary maintenance and can confuse visitors copying links.
Preserve the path customers already use
Before changing URLs, identify important existing links and destinations. Map each old address to its genuine replacement. Sending every missing page to the homepage loses context and can disguise broken navigation.
Test with the old link as well as the new one. Check the status, final destination and whether the redirect repeats or loops. Make sure query strings and relevant anchors behave as intended for the actual site.
Verify the blog as well as the homepage
A static website and a WordPress theme can store navigation in different files. Updating one menu does not necessarily update the other. Search the relevant templates and inspect the rendered pages after the change.
My site uses clean service URLs, and the old services.html route redirects to the clean service page. Read Website case study: bringing blog links and service URLs into agreement for that example. Explore SEO support, my portfolio or send a link problem.
For the underlying search concept, see Google's canonicalization guidance. For related discovery work, read Does submitting a sitemap make my website rank on Google?. The goal is a dependable address scheme that your site consistently follows.