com.apple.IconServices is causing high CPU usage and Finder problems in Mavericks. How to fix this?
Apple user Kieran Healy has apparently solved the root problem and come up with a fix, described on his blog here. The short of it is to open Terminal and then enter the following command:

mkdir ${TMPDIR}/com.apple.IconServices


Apparently, IconServices was seeking a directory and, failing to find it, began thrashing. Kieran's fix creates that directory. 

When I tried this solution, the fix was immediate -- that is, no restarting, relaunching, or even re-visiting of directories was required. 

All credit goes to Kieran Healy for this fix. I suggest visiting his website and giving him a "like".