Last night we woke up to this extremely loud noise. Sounded like a jack-hammer in our walls. It was the pipes from our bathroom. My husband went to the basementand aand shut off the water and the noise stopped. Upon inspecting our toilet we noticed that the chain that lifts the cover off the drain opening in the toilet tank had fallen off the arm and was holding the valve open. We have not turned the water back on yet. Could this have been the cause of the noise? Do I need to have a plumber look at it? Any suggestions?

Sounds like ballcock chatter to me.
Let's check the tank adjustments.
With the flapper seated the linkage wants to have 1/4" of play. Too much play and the flapper doesn't get pulled back enough giving you a short flush. Too tight and it lets water seep past the flapper. I adjust the chain by the link and if it needs fine tuning, I bend the flush lever rod a bit until I have the desired play in the linkage. Then tank level should be 1/2" under the white overflow tube when the tank's filled. If this doesn't get the problem fixed click back and tell me about it. Good luck, Tom