A charwoman is a woman paid to clean, especially in someone else’s house — floors, grates, steps, the messy jobs that come by the day rather than as a live-in servant. The word is old-fashioned now, and it belongs to Britain more than to the US. In older novels and plays she often arrives in the morning, does the rough work, and goes home; she is working-class, and the word can sound a little looking-down if you use it today. People who do this work now are much more likely to be called a cleaner. You still meet charwoman in Victorian stories, in older films, and in the set phrase charlady, which is the same job with a slightly softer tone.