I start on one floor, usually top or main, many times starting with bathrooms, then I dust, wipe down the kitchen and then vacuum/wash floors and work my way around the house. Basically it's a similar pattern in every house. If the house is quite large I will break down the cleaning into smaller sections or areas. Once I have a good routine, I stick to it because I can then be the most efficient even if I insert an extra task here or there.
Every client has different priorities. When I first meet with a client to go over what they'd like done, I listen to what they point out as we're talking. If my client makes a comment about how the dusty piano drives her crazy, I always make sure I get the piano dusted. Or they may make a comment about how there's always fingerprints on the hall closet door, then I be sure to always wipe that area and be on the lookout for build-up from hand oils.
Little things that I always do are things like wiping doorknobs and light switches. I always try to run my swiffer duster along baseboards, door frames and ceiling fans where I can reach easily or with the extendable duster. If my clients specifically ask that I clean baseboards then I will take a damp cloth and move furniture (small pieces that can easily be moved) and do a proper job of it.
I have used mostly the same products for the past 7 years....it took about a year of trial and error to figure out which cleaners are the most valuable to me. When I try out a new one I will either talk to somebody that has used it before or I use it in my own house first....don't want to be destroying Mrs. Nesbitt's bathroom mirror from 1940 with a cleaner that stains the antique frame!
The safest items I find are vinegar, rubbing alcohol (great disinfectant), dish detergent, Murphy Oil Soap, a couple of Vim products and one or two "green" products that I found at a local cleaning supply store. I make a lot of my solutions with combinations of these. I use swiffer dusters for dusting so I can just throw them away...I know, not very environmentally friendly but I find dusting cloths are just not my bag although I also carry a dampened cloth for wiping fingerprints and smudges as I make my way around a house. I also use paper towel to clean toilets because, you know, I don't want to deal with washing cloths with human waste on them. I buy disposable gloves that I change frequently too.....don't want to go from bathroom to kitchen with same gloves on! Yechhh!
Every house and client is different but in many ways, the same. I try to do what suits the client and the house. Some of my people say "Do what you do" and the next will say "Do it this way and this way" so I need to be flexible. I generally don't like to use too many products because it's a waste of time to constantly be switching products as I'm cleaning so vinegar water will be kitchen cleaner, glass and mirror cleaner and dusting cloth spritzer and maybe even bathroom cleaner.
I do my best at every house, every day because I care. The client may see something I cleaned in a different light after I've left and they may tell me that I didn't do a very good job on that hallway table and that's okay. I'll just try to look at it from a different angle after I've cleaned it the next time. But for the most part, my people are just happy with what I've managed to accomplish in the time I was at their home.
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