What kind of vacuum does the maid service use? This is very important, because many of those professional vacuum cleaners spew out so much dust it's unbelievable. Dust is one of my worst allergies, and shows up very graphically on skin tests. You might want to ask the maid service to start using a vacuum with a HEPA filter. This greatly reduces the amount of dust going back into the air when the vacuum is running.
As for the chemicals, I would still look into what it is they're actually using. Some maid services now advertise that they are using environmentally friendly products. This certainly wouldn't have been the case just a few years ago. This kind of issue is important to me, since I have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). I have been using cleaning recipes made from very ordinary household products that actually do everything that I need to have done. You can find such recipes on Care2.com. Use the search bar to look for "natural cleaning" or "green cleaning". You'll be amazed at what you can do with white vinegar, castile soap and baking soda. You need very little else, although some of the recipes call for essential oils or castile soap that already has essential oils in it. Then, all you need is a safe and natural dish soap and you're all set. There are even recipes for furniture polish, if you have the kind of furniture that needs this. This is great news, because the commercial furniture polish is incredibly toxic.
I would start with getting the maid service to use a vacuum with a HEPA filter in it.
Thank you for your reply.
As of this point we have actually fired our maid service. The dust left behind was only part of the problem we were having. Now that a few days have passed and the stench has somewhat cleared the house is almost livable again.
Thinking back their vacuum what pretty plain looking. i dont remember a filter attachment sticking out the side or anything. I figure it was the vacuum bringing in dust from other peoples houses. The service we were using claims to use the environmentally friendly products but there is no such thing as friendly dust clouds.
The plan is to find another service and use our own vacuum if we have to. This experience has really showed me what allergy sufferers go through on a daily basis.