I wish there was just one good reference. The information is scattered and inconsistant. Some is based on cognitive perception. Most of these seem derived from the legacy of the Apple Human Interface Guidelines. The scrollbar itself, for example, reminds the user of its availability as well as its operation.
Menus can contain either type of element.
This book has extensive information on creating perceptual layers in interface design. A Button is a control that users click to perform an action, set or toggle a state, or set an option. A Slider is a control that enables users to set a value in a range. The setting of an individual checkbox is independent of other checkboxes and more than one checkbox in a set can be checked at any time. I just saved you the cost of buying that book.