Before you sign in to your web history and thus making it one of your google's services for the first time, does google record your web history before you sign into your web history the first time or does it begin to record after you first sign in?

i.e., can I view my web history from before I first sign into the "web history" service?

Nope. You must accept your web history is going to be logged by Google (another famous long list of terms & conditions). After you accept, the google toolbar/addon starts logging every single page you visit.
They don't log anything (ok, they do, but they won't show you that) till you agree.

I don't use google toolbar. However, if I click on "my services" it then says I can try something new e.g., Web History.

I heard Web History can still work without the google toolbar. So if I click on Web History, it won't show my web history unless I agree then?

The reason I ask is because i heard people can just click "pause" if they do not want google to log their web history. But I do not have to click "pause" since I never signed in to Web History ever, right?

Without the toolbar, Google can only record your Google queries and the search results you visit.