Does a 555 timer actually have a flip flop?
It's a level-sensitive (level-triggered) latch (or level triggered flip-flop). I don't think it really helps to get bogged down into the definitions and taxonomy in this kind of thing unless you have some authoritative source to point at that is respected as such. Terminology evolves and the 555 is an ancient IC.
An R-S flip-flop is the same thing as an SR latch etc.
The Wikipedia entry actually notes this evolution:

Recently, some authors reserve the term flip-flop exclusively for
discussing clocked circuits; the simple ones are commonly called
transparent latches.[1][2] Using this terminology, a level-sensitive
flip-flop is called a transparent latch, whereas an edge-triggered
flip-flop is simply called a flip-flop. Using either terminology, the
term &quot;flip-flop&quot; refers to a device that stores a single bit of data,
but the term &quot;latch&quot; may also refer to a device that stores any number
of bits of data using a single trigger. The terms &quot;edge-triggered&quot;,
and &quot;level-triggered&quot; may be used to avoid ambiguity.[3]

Even if some boffin attempts to encrispen the definitions, there's no guarantee the rest of us are going to cooperate, and those old datasheets are not going to revise themselves even if it was desirable.