Everything I upload is owned by root even though the MyCloud Web account is not connected with the root account on my MyCloud device. (At least I hope it isn’t)
Also: ssh is pretty pointless, because the WD MyCload deletes the public key at boot. 
Hello,
When you say that is owned by root, do you mean that the files goes to the public folder? If not, can you share more information about your case so other users can share some information with you.
I use my device via the web interface and FTP. When I log in on FTP I do that as a normal user and upload files they have the user 1000 and the group 1001. When I upload file and folders via the web interface and look at them via FTP the have the user and group 0. 0 is root.
