uploaded my site and the homepage just shows a list of files

If index.html is definitely in public_html, named right, and you still see the listing, try a private window first. The listing gets cached like any other page, so you might just be looking at an old copy. If it's still there, check you're looking at the right folder. On some hosts the domain points at a different directory than public_html (common with addon domains), so the file is fine but in the wrong place.

The server can't find an index file in that folder, so it lists everything instead. Check the homepage is named exactly index.html (or index.php), all lowercase, since Linux hosting is case sensitive and Index.html won't count. Also check it's in the web root (public_html on most hosts) and not inside a subfolder that came out of your zip. Once that's working, add Options -Indexes to your .htaccess so nobody can browse your folders if it ever happens again.