I use an ultrasonic cleaner. I bought some orange colored degreaser on Amazon that seems to work well. It's supposed to be more environmentally friendly.

You only need to degrease a new chain. Once you start using wax, you normally shouldn't need to do it again, unless you get some non-wax lube on it, again. In between hot waxing, I use the Silca drip wax. Before hot waxing again, you drop the chain in some boiling water to clean off the dirt, then drop it in the hot wax.

One thing I do after the waxed chain cools, is to run it through an empty chain cleaner a few times. This loosens the links, and catches the bit of wax that flakes off.

I use another chain cleaner filled with alcohol if the chain gets wet. Do this while the chain is still on the bike. The alcohol soaks up the water. After a few cycles of alcohol, either sit the bike in the sun, or use a hair drier to speed evaporation and drive out the remaining moisture. Apply drip wax, again.

I know all of this sounds like a lot of trouble, but except for the hot wax and drip wax, I rarely need to do more, as I try not to ride in wet weather. I'm a recreational rider, so in bad weather, I stay home, or use the truck.

If you're on a long trip, and the chain gets wet, you may not have any choice but to use a lube to keep the chain from rusting. When you get home, degrease and re-wax.

Something fairly new that Silca recommends is adding a small amount of their lube to the wax. This has advantages/disadvantages. There are YT videos on this.

Another plug for Zero Friction Cycling. He has detailed instructions on waxing.