Yesterday my maytag refrigerator quit working. My family and I were gone for the day. All the food had to be thrown out. Any suggestions how to fix?

You can call the Maytag, or a Sears Service Center near you.

Schedule Service Maytag | Refrigeration, Cooking, Dishwashers & Laundry Appliances (http://www.maytag.com/support/schedule-service.content.html)

Was there evidence of a power failure at your home or in the area? How old is the appliance and is there a warranty?

All power and lights were on. It's just all food and ice in the freezer thawed out, and melted and the frig was hotter then Normal on the inside. It appeared as if all the cold was just gone, and a heater was applied to the inside of the frig and upper freezer(top/bottom appliances)the appliance is said to be around 7 years old

At 7 years old its almost worth replacing it rather than fixing it. If you aren't sure then its possible its even older. At which time its definitely worth buying a new one.

Along with peace of mind with a new one you get the greater efficiency of the newer equipment.

Could be main compressor at worst case, or bad defrost timer (relatively cheap). Or a few other controls too.
If you can remove* the plastic housing around the thermostats (probably 2, one for freezer setting, one for refer setting), you should find a hole under the refer therm area where a small bladed slot head screwdriver can be inserted and you can turn til it clicks and take it out of defrost cycle (which might be the cause). When you click that defrost timer one notch, you should hear the compressor start running. You would then have the timer replaced for a reasonable amount.
*These housings appear to be a non-removable fortress until you study it for a minute and you will find that by simply squeezing from the sides for instance, that the entire housing will pop loose.
Our Maytag is about 12 to 14 years old and we recently had problems (not as drastic as yours) with low borderline temps in the refer compart. We had a reputable company come look at it. The guy did a lot of trouble shooting and finally replaced the thermostat- bill for $ 125 incl. parts and labor. Seemed to be the problem but a week later, similar temp. problems. He came back (no service call charge this time) and replaced a very small defrost thermostat located near the coils in the freezer compart, $30 bucks. Total $ 155 and we had been looking at $1,000 plus new refers for two or more weeks.
That one step (advancing the defrost timer) may tell the tale for you. If the compressor does not start running when that timer is advanced, may be best to start finding a new one. If the compressor does run, probably worthwhile to contact a well known appliance shop in your area, such facilities usually having a well-experienced repair division.
If a defrost timer fails to restart on its programmed schedule, there is no cooling taking place. In our case, the small therm. (small silver cylinder with two wires) near the actual defrost heater was operating sporadically, unpredictably and sometimes letting the heater get very hot and other times allowing the coils to freeze over. Good luck.

The first thing you check is under the unit by unplugging it and removing the rear cover where you can see the condenser coils. You will need to also remove the front kick plate. Wash out coils with a light spray from a water hose then vacuum up water with wet vac. Use Windex or another cleaner on fan blades and it also helps to remove greasy dirt on coils. If it was extremely dirty that may have been your only problem. While you are down there see if the defrost timer is there and if so plug in unit and rotate timer (do not run unit for more than a minute with rear cover off as many units require cover on to route air through coils.) until it clicks and compressor turns off. Wait 15-30 minutes and while waiting see if freezer is defrosting. The freezer fan will be off and steam should rise out of freezer and you will hear it as defrost heater heats up. If unit comes back on without any defrosting then the heater and/or the defrost terminator are bad. Unplug and replace rear cover, then remove cover to freezer. You will most likely have to defrost freezer to get the cover off. Inside you will find a defrost heater element and a round t-stat wired in series with it and attached to the side of the coils. Test heater with an ohm meter and if it reads open replace both heater and terminator. Many times you will see heater burned in two, especially on side-by-sides which have a glass tube with an element inside. Another thing that can be bad is the freezer fan, so be sure to check it too. Check it out and get back to us.The first thing you check is under the unit by unplugging it and removing the rear cover where you can see the condenser coils. You will need to also remove the front kick plate. Wash out coils with a light spray from a water hose then vacuum up water with wet vac. Use Windex or another cleaner on fan blades and it also helps to remove greasy dirt on coils. If it was extremely dirty that may have been your only problem. While you are down there see if the defrost timer is there and if so plug in unit and rotate timer (do not run unit for more than a minute with rear cover off as many units require cover on to route air through coils.) until it clicks and compressor turns off. Wait 15-30 minutes and while waiting see if freezer is defrosting. The freezer fan will be off and steam should rise out of freezer and you will hear it as defrost heater heats up. If unit comes back on without any defrosting then the heater and/or the defrost terminator are bad. Unplug and replace rear cover, then remove cover to freezer. You will most likely have to defrost freezer to get the cover off. Inside you will find a defrost heater element and a round t-stat wired in series with it and attached to the side of the coils. Test heater with an ohm meter and if it reads open replace both heater and terminator. Many times you will see heater burned in two, especially on side-by-sides which have a glass tube with an element inside. Another thing that can be bad is the freezer fan, so be sure to check it too. Check it out and get back to us.