In a speech in London, Cameron described the reforms as a "people power revolution", replacing "bureaucratic control" with "more freedom, more choice and more local control".
His speech follows the publication of the Open Public Services White Paper, setting out the government’s approach to public services.
The white paper includes details of policies already being pursued by the government including the Community Right to Buy – being introduced in the Localism Bill, which could allow local people and communities the chance to take over establishments such as children’s centres.
The document also re-emphasises plans to create more free schools, as well as steps to create provision for excluded children by allowing a wider range of providers, including voluntary and private sector organisations, to offer them places.
"This policy will remove barriers to setting up new provision and make it easier for new providers to enter the market," the white paper states.
Cameron said public services are "the backbone of the country" but operate with a "take what you’re given" philosophy that has failed to address social inequality.
"I know what our public services can do and how they are the backbone of this country. But I know too that the way they have been run for decades – old-fashioned, top-down, take-what-you’re-given – is just not working for a lot of people," he said.
"Public services were centralised with all the right intentions: to drive progress through from on high, to keep tabs on how that progress was going with targets and rules and inspections. But the impact of this has been incredibly damaging."
However, the plans have been criticised by Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT).
"This is a white paper that is filled with nothing but contradictions," she said. "David Cameron’s big society is shorthand for privatisation, pure and simple. The Prime Minister claims that he wants to reduce the role of Whitehall, yet in the case of its academies and free schools programme, it is Whitehall to whom these schools will be answerable.
"The evidence on Charter Schools in America, which the PM claims are successful examples of alternative provision, shows they have not improved outcomes for the overwhelming majority of pupils.
"In the case of public services it is responsibility and accountability that matter most to people. Local authorities are essential in the oversight they bring to the provision of services such as education. Freedom and choice have little value if pupils and parents have no democratically elected body to go to with complaints or concerns."
But the document was endorsed by Sir Merrick Cockell, chairman of the Local Government Association (LGA), who said: "Public services are more accountable, more efficient and more in tune with the needs and aspirations of local people when they are delivered locally.
"Now ministers need to deliver on their commitment to let go and devolve services down to the local level. We urge government not to hold back.
"No department should consider itself above the need to break up the centralised power they have held over local areas.
"It is vital that the devolution of power from Whitehall down to town halls and communities is comprehensive and not tied up in red tape. Local government has a key role to play putting people in charge of the services they rely on."
The white paper will be followed over the summer by a wide-ranging discussion with individuals, communities, public sector staff, providers and others with an interest in how public services are delivered.
