I've got Inge Jones's mod for this (No Community Plate Clearing, or something like that) and it works great when you're playing a sim who is visiting a Community lot. But recently I've been in Bluewater Village, trying to get Malcolm to get going and produce an heir already, and in this 'nightclub' or whatever it is that he owns there is a kitchen that's just wide open and one of his customers very magnanimously cooked and served food, which was gobbled up immediately by the other hungry sims on the lot. It was then that I realized that now there was no way to get those plates washed; even Malcolm himself couldn't do it, even though he owned the place. They eventually went green and buggy, and the ambiance took a nosedive. (I did not try to direct his employee to "Clean", as the employee was busy with sales and ready for a break anyways, but maybe that would have worked.)

I went back to Simlogical and reread the description of Inge's mod. She says it's obsolete now, as 'there are better versions of this elsewhere.'

By 'better' perhaps she means mods that sort of do the same thing, but within reason . . . such as being able to clear up dishes on your OWN community lot since no-one else can do it. Does anyone know of these 'better versions'?

See this thread: https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=656054

Perfect, I'll check those out. Thanks, Phantomknight!

Hilarious update! Okay, I haven't replaced Inge's mod with any of those others yet because I really want to read them through and make sure I'm getting the one that's right for me. Meanwhile, like a fool, I sent Malcolm Landgraab on a honeymoon with his new wife . . . not remembering I'd have the exact same problem with room service dishes. (Duh!!!! lol) They splashed out for the full seven days on Twikii Island and she became pregnant on day one, so she's starving all the time and very tired, so room service is a must. After collecting a nice heap of dirty dishes on the balcony I realized that the "Lick Clean" option was available for Malcolm, since he's such a slob. So he licked them all clean (I had to avert my eyes it was so gross, but he seemed to enjoy it) and magically the plates disappeared! Ha ha! I don't think this would be a wise thing to do in front of customers as a business owner, but in the middle of the night on a private balcony it avoided a potential crisis. The Landgraab know-how strikes again! Hey, I wonder if I could finally get somebody to die of flies this way! Maybe I'll try it before I switch out the mod.

@Laurcleve there's a fix for the BV housekeeper by Simwardrobe/Paladin. Look here: https://simfileshare.net/folder/87829/
Under Objects - NPCs and NPC Fixes, you want Improved Housekeeping

Is there a mod that only stops customers washing the dishes at restaurants, owned or not? If they can't clean up after themselves at the park with the barbecue then stuff gets gross.

Oh geez, I never even thought of that! (Can you tell I don't travel much? ha ha) Yeah, hotels have housekeepers, don't they! I haven't seen one since they got there, about five days ago now. Mine must need the fix then. And what is that Bellhop Repair about, do you know? They had to order their atrociously expensive carrot cake twice before it showed up, so maybe the Bellhop needs fixing too. I hope Malcolm exercises some of that ruthless cunning when it comes time to examine the bill before paying. Hmph!
**Oh, I just read the ReadMe file for both of those, the Housekeeper and the Bellhop, which explains a lot (but doesn't explain the missing carrot cake.)
I'm downloading both of those right now. Thanks again, Phantomknight! You're always coming to my rescue, your name suits you perfectly!

@Laurcleve you're very welcome! Happy I could help. With the room service, it's hard to say if it was just a one time glitch or not, but if it persists, maybe try Hotel room service fix here on MTS by Alexx58.

(For posterity/anyone else who comes across the thread, Bellhop Repair is for making the Bellhop repair broken items in the hotel.)

And @Charity, it's a big mod, but you may want to check out Simler90's Cleaning Mod, as that feature is incorporated into it. From the original mod description:

"Additionally, this mod prevents sims from autonomously washing dishes on OFB lots. Sims are also prevented from washing dishes on community lots where there is a dining podium. Only the owner, the family of the owner, employees and NPCs will wash dishes on those lots."

The other mods regarding washing dishes tend to ban cleaning up on all community lots, not distinguishing a difference between restaurants and other types of lots.