I think sometimes "cleaned" is in the eyes of the beholder. I think we have all seen NGC straight grade coins with pretty obvious cleaning. Yours looks nice and from the photos I wouldn't peg it as cleaned. I'd keep it!
He sent it to NGC and they only accept PCGS slabs for crossover. All other slabs HAVE to allow them to crack them out.
This is one of the many reasons I prefer PCGS over NGC. NGC is too damned big for their britches, and I don't give them any preference over ANACS. My beef with ANACS is their ugly AF holders. They should go back to soapbox holders.