How high are the joists? In my basement shop the bottom of the 2x10 joists (1970 house) are only 7'-8" or so above the floor. I'm 6'3" so I can easily reach 8'. Everything is exposed and I have all kinds of stuff stored between the joists and quick grip clamps on the joists themselves. Its also much easier to add receptacles where I need them if I change the tool layout.
Code smode, I don't really care, its my house and I'll use it how I want to.
Not wanting to give up even an inch of my 98" of headroom I did this;
Resawed Aspen 1 x 3 (a little expensive but really nice to work with) to 2 1/2" x 5/16" and rounded over two of the edges. (rounded before resawing)
Painted this white then screwed it to the bottom of all the floor joists. Bought plastic faced fiberglass ceiling tiles. These are cheap, you wouldn't use them in you living space, but they can be bent in half and just spring back.
Cut these into 14" wide x 24" long panels and popped them in.
This left exposed joints,,, it's a shop.
Easy access to the ducts and wires above. Only gave up 5/16" plus some screw heads.
This made the shop a much nicer place to spend time and allows better dust management.
Are your lights just regular fluorescent lights for drop ceilings? Was hoping to find and LED option