RBH, your cleaner sounds exactly like the one I used to have! She worked like a blitz streaking through the house (it was a big old farmhouse, horrendously hard to clean with all the beams and dark musty corners), took her coffee with her on the run, and the place positively sparkled when she left - like yours, she cleaned things I'd never thought of cleaning, and worked with a speed and efficiency I've never seen before. She became a good friend too and also, for an increased rate, helped me look after my mother in our home when she had a stroke.
She was a very strong and rather opinionated woman (in a good way - I like someone to organise me and as for the exploitation thing, she told me she had done many jobs in her life including running a busy office and had decided at this point in her life that cleaning was her job of choice as she had ultimate control over who she worked for, what hours, etc, and knew she could do a damn good job of it. Some of her other clients were elderly gents who all seemed to fall in love with her, I hope they left her a bit of money cos she was an absolute gem!
We've moved now to a smaller house and I'm not working now so I can't justify having her - sob - she still comes to see me sometimes though and my house never sparkles the way it used to!
MuddlingThru - I hope you get a good one like mine and RBH's - I had one before who was absolutely useless, she would start late, finish 20 mins early ('it's not worth me starting anything now...') and preferred to do pointless jobs such as a slow, feeble washing down of walls and (for some reason) pushing handbasin plugs neatly into the overflow?! when the basic bathroom cleaning and floors had still not been done. I felt sorry for her though, she was a single mum who'd had a hard time so I kept her on for a couple of years, not wanting to put her out of a job, but a poor one can be a waste of money and it can be very awkward to tell them you don't want them any more (if you're like me, anyway.)