So as it turns out the contact form works with default settings.
The problem occurs when additional data fields are added to the contact form. I added a drop-down menu and radio buttons to my form, which then cause the form to be recognized as spam. Seems like any additional field on the form does this. The Bluehost rep suggested the plugin developer might have a solution, or I can try using STMP instead of PHP mail. What a bummer that I have to install yet another plugin.
Do you have any suggestions for a good STMP mail plugin so that I can use the form to collect all the data I’d like from the form? Or another solution?