It is definitely possible to clean movement parts by hand to a high standard, Donald De Carle dedicated a whole chapter to this activity in his book "Practical Watch Repairing".
He describes the procedure using mainly Benzine, sharpened pegwoods, pith wood and brushes. There are several specialist fluids which can be used as an alternative to Benzine nowadays.
I think there is actually a great deal that can be learnt from manually cleaning the parts of a movement.
Having said that, it is time consuming, and with the low cost of the machines from China, ultrasonic cleaning is very much a viable option for the enthusiast/ hobbyist. It certainly saves a bit of time, but it is not the horological panacea: dry oil in pivot holes, mainspring barrel or pinion leaves can be very stubborn. I personally always peg some parts to be on the safe side.