I know that DC inductive loads create back EMF when turned off and that's why we use a freewheeling diode.
Does this also true for AC inductive loads and AC loads in general?
I know we can't use a diode though.
I've noticed when I turn on and off switches around the house, it affects sensitive electronics.
Is there any solution?
Yes. My old washing machine used to inject nasty spikes into my mains. Does it affect ‘sensitive’ electronics? Yes. Most goods for sale in the western world are required to be compliant with a number of standards regarding putting nasty interference on the mains and being able to tolerate a number of common conditions encountered on the mains. So your ‘average’ whitegood, tv etc is designed to withstand such interference. Devices like varistors are used to snub the arcing across switches and relays. Capacitors are used as well. The exact method depends on the problem you want to solve.
Yes, of course the same applies to AC. Of course you can use diodes with appropriate breakdown voltages to clamp these overloads.
If your switch affects your electronics, either you are switching inductive loads that shouldn't be switched the way you do it, or you have electronic devices that should be better-shielded and filtered.
The solution is hence to inspect what you're switching, and to better shield and filter your "sensitive electronics". Your grid is extremely low impedance: the "tiny" bit amount of energy a load that you can switch at home has should pretty much be absorbed by the grid with practically no effect on other devices through the power grid.
So, my guess is you've got badly arcing switches and badly designed electronics which emit RF over the air and are too sensitive to RF coming from the air, respectively.
Assume this: the voltage in your house doesn't suddenly drop when you turn on your stove, which might be drawing 20 A, because the grid can easily supply the sudden change in current drawn. Turning off a 100 W inductive appliance reaaaally shouldn't push more energy into the grid than that – and shouldn't, hence, have a worse effect.
Yes, it's true for AC loads as well. The technique for dealing with the flyback with a coil on AC is a bit different. For lower voltage/lower power AC loads, an RC snubber can be used to catch the flyback. This is an inexpensive solution, but it wastes power.
For bigger loads a SIDAC or MOV can also do this function. These devices don't turn on until a threshold is reached, so unlike the snubber no power is wasted.
More here: Relay protection when proper TVS at load cannot be implemented
The flyback can be avoided altogether if the control uses zero current / zero voltage switching. That is, the 'off' time is phase-aligned when the coil flux is at minimum, so there isn't a flux collapse when the device is disconnected. Likewise, the 'on' time is aligned with the AC crossover point.
