The Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector faces chronic instability driven by workforce shortages, regulatory fragmentation, and operational unpredictability. This white paper reframes cleaning — traditionally viewed as a maintenance task — as a governance mechanism central to system reliability and workforce sustainability. It introduces the National Childcare Cleaning Standard (CCS), a unified operational framework that consolidates requirements spanning WHS, health, infection prevention, and the National Quality Framework. By embedding a dedicated, non-educator operational workforce and evidence-based cleaning protocols, the CCS provides a missing stabilizing structure for day-to-day service delivery. The analysis demonstrates how a national standard can reduce illness, burnout, and turnover while improving compliance confidence, public health outcomes, and financial resilience. Ultimately, the CCS is presented as a governance reform that transforms cleaning from a cost centre into a strategic lever for operational stability and sector sustainability.