Nope, you're just doin' it rong.
Go to the area you want to use Clone Stamp. Select that area in a box selection, or lasso selection etc...
Then use the clone stamp. It works perfect within the selected area. It does not work on the whole layer, a selection must be made to work within first.
Once inside a selection area, you still have to CTRL+LEFT-CLICK to tell the clone tool what you want to clone from.