It depends…
Do you have an idea yet of what type of schools you are applying to? If you are mostly applying to state schools, you probably don’t need an independent counselor. Ditto less-selective private schools.
Are you a strong writer? Are you good with deadlines? Have you heard things from older kids at your school about whether the school’s own guidance counselor and English teachers do enough to prepare kids to write their college essays and create a good list to apply to?
We did hire a counselor for our oldest. We paid her hourly (I think it was in the ballpark of $175/hr at the time). She helped our daughter come up with a ‘top 25’ list in January of her junior year, and then helped with essays over the summer and early fall of senior year. Now with kid #2 I don’t think we need the help with the top 20 list (between what I’ve learned from kid #1 and reading here and friends’ kids in the meantime I know a lot more). But we’ll probably still get someone to help with editing the essays/keeping the kid on track.