RE windows controls – Sway works differently
Super+space makes a window floating.
Then when this window is active Super+r enters into resize mode.
arrows modify the size of the window
Esc or Alt leaves this resize mode.
Otherwise scratchpad is useful to ‘minimize’ and ‘recall’ windows
bindsym $Mod+Shift+z move scratchpad
# Show the next scratchpad window or hide the focused scratchpad window.
# If there are multiple scratchpad windows, this command cycles through them.
bindsym $Mod+z scratchpad show
You may have spoiled sway config.
Edit: Try
sway -C
or
sway --validate
to check your config