Sometimes I think my wife and I are the last middle-class couple in the country who haven’t hired a maid to clean the house. I know we’re the last couple in our neighborhood who are “maidless.” Every week, up and down our block, I see maids pulling up to houses, getting out their vacuums and buckets and other cleaning gear, and spending a couple hours or so making our neighbors’ houses gleam. Meanwhile, my wife and I run our fingers across dusty tabletops and windowsills and wonder if we should be doing the same. Actually, this past Christmas, I seriously considered hiring a maid service as a gift for my wife. Although, in truth, it would have been a gift to myself, too, because I’m the one who straps on the apron once every week or two and dusts and gets down on my hands and knees to scrub the …