This problem of legally differentiating between employees and contractors has been around for a while and relates to multiple factors so it is informative to look at this in contextual terms. This arrangement has become known as the "ABC Test". There is a good summary of what it means at The Balance Small Business: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-is-the-abc-test-for-indep... and discussion of adoption of this test by the California Supreme Court at the California Public Agency Blog: https://www.calpublicagencylaboremploymentblog.com/wage-and-....

To attempt to summarize in a way that answers your questions: First do you know how to do the work and use your own expertise to adapt to circumstances or do you follow specific direction, training, and escalation procedures as dictated by management? If you are following a script as trained and have someone overseeing you as you work then you are an employee. If you know what to do and get only summary instructions then you are likely a contractor. Second, if you are hired by a cleaning company to extend their cleaning capacity using their methods and equipment then you are likely an employee, but if you are hired by a software company to sweep their floors whenever they get really dirty then you are probably a contractor. Finally, if you do cleaning on your own for various clients and are hired to do cleaning then you are likely a contractor, but if you clean for one client by their instruction and with their oversight and support then you are probably an employee. Note that each of these criteria has substantial wiggle room and the idea is they all work together to support a decision one way or the other.