I cannot answer the question regarding VMware Workstation as I never tried this. However, with vSphere Essentials and vCenter Server in place, you can either use the vSphere Web Client (i.e. access/manage vCenter trough a browser) or use the Windows vSphere Client.
Since ESXi uses the same binaries for all editions, switching from the free edition to Essentials is only a matter of entering the license key.
Essentials supports up to 3 hosts with up to two physical CPUs/sockets each.
André