Try removing your root: '/public', key value and remove forward slash from ['js/']

if you really need a root key in your settings, make sure it is an absolute path:

root: __dirname or root: "E:/node_projects/my_project",

Plugin does work for me with these settings:

new CleanWebpackPlugin(['dist'], {
    //root: '/',
    verbose: true,
    dry: false,
    exclude: ['example.txt']
}),

My project setup:

Here is my console output: