[brightly-salty]

Answer from another layperson: The photons even while the lightbulb are on are constantly being emitted and absorbed by the materials around you as energy. When you turn off the light, the stream of photons stops but the remaining photons continue on their way to their destination where they are absorbed as energy, or reflected to be absorbed somewhere else. The photons no longer exist as particles but do exist as energy in the objects around you.

[dreamcompiler]

And that energy is heat, which is still photons, but at wavelengths too long to see with the naked eye.