Yes, I don’t think I have come across a US state where sales tax doesn’t also get applied to most services.

> Now what distinguishes that scenario from an employee being hired?

Not sure why this is relevant to this discussion, but the cleaning service’s employees do not become your employees because you don’t get to manage the cleaning service’s employees and it’s usually a limited time work engagement. There’s quite a bit more that goes into creating an employer / employee relationship.

In my opinion it shouldn't be different. You should pay the same tax whether you purchase service from a company or labor from an individual.