Do I need concrete footings for a free-standing deck

You didn't say where you are located, but i figured in a cold area like me in Maine. First of all, 12 inch joist spacing a a waste of time and money. 16 inches will be fine especially if you plan to use 5/4 decking of any type. If you are in a non ground freeze area, just use simple blocking to support the additional 4 foot off the concrete. Assuming you are in the frozen north, consider using 3 foot porch posts. they are pre-poured concrete pyramids with a threaded insert dead center on the top. Often easier that sonotubes and mixing concrete. If your existing slab is not underfooted with a frost wall, and has not heaved or cracked over the years, then most likely a simple 8 inch concrete block in the ground the same depth or slightly deeper than the slab will probably do just fine. Remember you are only supporting 2 foot of deck (2 ft supported by slab and 2 ft supported my new foundation) and the decking itself will be spanning 8 to 12 feet onto the existing slab. Over kill is fine, always safe, but not always a good use of time and money. Also if you new deck is 12 inches off the ground, please consider some safe egress steps and side barriers. The rise of the step should not exceed 8 1/2 inches. A 12 inch step down can be a hazard, especially at night and for younger and older folks. Check your local code or the new IRC guide lines.

Burying the wood post will cause it to rot prematurely. Even ground-contact rated Pressure Treated lumber won't last forever.

The only benefit of burying the post (besides it being easier to do) is lateral stability. i.e. you can sometimes neglect lateral bracing this way.

Best practice for wood-post decks is to have the concrete extend above grade and use a stand-off post anchor to hold the wood post to concrete.

Here is an example of this with some knee-braces for lateral bracing. The braces don't match so I find this somewhat ugly, but the image is clear and easy to understand.

Footings here don't need to be deep so I often form my own square ones but sometimes I use bigfoot forms and I really like those. Although Shirlock's "mushroom" method is more than adequate if you are only required 8" wide.