1. stay away from plastic. It will concentrate water and you have no way of preventing the water from eventually getting under it.

2. adding a little bit of loose surface material over compacted material that is pitched toward he house is not likely to keep the water from moving across the top of the compacted surface.

3. the better thing to do, if you can do it, is to create a swale out away from the house that diverts the water so that it never approaches the house.

4. (this should really be #1) eliminate every source of water in the area by diverting it. Most notably would be downspouts if you have gutters.