Essentials from the bukkit page (http://dev.bukkit.org/bukkit-plugins/essentials/) doesnt work. You must use the 2.x version.
EchoPet As its version dependent TO THE OP: Make a list in the original post in a spoiler of whatever people reply.
https://hub.spigotmc.org/jenkins/job/Spigot-Essentials/ http://dev.bukkit.org/bukkit-plugins/worldedit/files/60-world-edit-6-0/ http://dev.bukkit.org/bukkit-plugins/worldguard/files/45-world-guard-6-0-beta-5/ Essentials hasn't been "disbanded" they're just anal and refuse to officially update Essentials to 1.8 until Bukkit releases a official 1.8 update. Just like WE and WG, Essentials will soon realize that Bukkit probably isn't coming back and that Spigot is the new Bukkit, the much better new Bukkit.
Thanks for quoting my amazing grammar. Honestly, i don't see essentials being updated as for servers are moving over to spigot, vus less demand for legacy builds.