Peter Mahler, the head of a private staffing agency for some of the finest homes in the country, is used to dealing with the quirky problems of ultrahigh-net worth clients. But this was a new one.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, a client, an executive with a New York financial firm, called about his vacuum cleaner. He couldn’t figure out how to remove the bag. Or where to find a new bag in his sprawling Upper East Side apartment. Cellphone pictures of the vacuum cleaner were exchanged and instructions were given.

It has been this way since the pandemic began, Mr. Mahler said. Wealthy homeowners used to having an extensive staff to take care of their homes—housekeepers, chefs, nannies and gardeners—have had to make a decision. To stay safe from the pandemic, they either ask their staff to quarantine alongside them indefinitely or send them home and fend for themselves.

For those who go it alone, there can be a learning curve. “Some of them are doing household tasks they haven’t done in decades,” said Mr. Mahler, founder of Mahler Private Staffing.

Mr. Mahler said about 40% of his clients have made the decision to quarantine with a couple of staff members who are given hefty financial incentives, sometimes as much as a temporary 30% bump in salary, to transition to a temporary live-in arrangement. In some cases, wealthy families are quarantining at their primary homes, while others have headed to their second homes in more open areas like Connecticut, the Hamptons or Palm Beach. Some decamped to major ranches in Idaho or Wyoming.