JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<ul>
        <li>
            <a href="stackoverflow.com">maincat1</a>
            <ul>
                <li>
                    <a href="stackoverflow.com">subcat1.1</a>
                    <ul>
                        <li>
                            subcat1.1.1
                        </li>
                        <li>
                            subcat1.1.2
                        </li>
                    </ul>
                </li>
            </ul>
        </li>
        <li>
            <a href="stackoverflow.com"> maincat2</a>
            <ul>
                <li>
                    subcat2.1
                </li>
                <li>
                    subcat2.2
                </li>
                <li>
                    subcat2.3
                     <ul>
                        <li>
                            subcat2.3.1
                        </li>
                        <li>
                            subcat2.3.2
                        </li>
                    </ul>
                </li>
            </ul>
        </li>
    </ul>

CSS

li > ul {
  display:none;
} 

li:hover > ul {
  display:block;
} 

.active > ul >li{
  display:block;
}

JavaScript

$(document).ready(function(){
	window.USER_IS_TOUCHING = false;
	window.addEventListener('touchstart', function onFirstTouch() {
    window.USER_IS_TOUCHING = true;
	 	// we only need to know once that a human touched the screen, so we can stop listening now
  	window.removeEventListener('touchstart', onFirstTouch, false);
	}, false);

  function is_touch_device() {
    return 'ontouchstart' in window        // works on most browsers 
        || navigator.maxTouchPoints;       // works on IE10/11 and Surface
  };
  $('ul > li > a').click(function(e){
      var target = $(e.target);
      var parent = target.parent(); // the li
      if(is_touch_device() || window.USER_IS_TOUCHING){
          if(target.hasClass("active")){
              //run default action of the link
          }
          else{
              e.preventDefault();
              //remove class active from all links
              $('ul > li > a.active').removeClass('active');
              //set class active to current link
              target.addClass("active");
              parent.addClass("active");
          }
      }
  });
  $('ul > li').click(function(e){
    //remove class active from all links if li was clicked
    if (e.target == this){
      $(".active").removeClass('active');
    }
  });
});