Just curious.
You can say
“I hired some help for the new vacation house.”
or
" I hired some servants for the new vacation house."
are both equally acceptable modern usage wise in polite society?
IMHO, no, not equivalent.
I think “servant” is not appropriate, as we don’t see people who are hired to perform tasks as somehow lesser than. they are people I contract out certains tasks.
IMHO, it comes down to the individual doing the hiring, and the people being hired. Take me for example. If I were independently wealthy then I would hire servants, not help. Anyone who couldn’t laugh at having the title of ‘servant’ wouldn’t have a job, especially not the little people I hired to dress like the vatican swiss guard (complete with halberds,) and man the gatehouse. In this hypothetical scenario, of course, some people would have other job titles, such as my palanquin bearers. They would be ‘porters’ rather than ‘servants,’ ‘landscapers’ would be called ‘wardens of the estate,’ but yeah, any of the indoor house staff would ‘servants’ as their prime job would be to serve refreshments to myself and my guests.
If I were in such a situation (sadly, I am not), I’d probably phrase things so I refer to individual jobs rather than the jobs as a class, e.g. “I hired a butler, a couple of maids, a cook, and a few gardeners.”
I would only think the term servant is applicable for help that lives in your home or on your property. Otherwise, you should say housekeeper/gardener/landscaper/chef etc.
As a person who employs a lot of in-home help (not necessarily by choice), I can’t imagine calling anyone a servant. It smacks of class-consciousness and it’s just not the preferred nomenclature these days. Most “hired help” is performing tasks we ourselves can’t or don’t want to do, and I think that merits some respect.
Incidentally, I wouldn’t call any of them “the help,” either. I’d call them the appropriate, specific title for their job duties, and a pp already suggested.
I think servant is fine if that’s the job description they knew they were signing on as. Seeing as how that particular job title is vanishingly rare these days, I’d say it’s rarely appropriate.
Also, I’m upset that vanishingly has a red squiggle underneath it. Is it not a word?
FWIW, here in Indonesia everyone who is middle class or richer (whether local or foreign) has maids, cooks, gardeners, nannies, etc. Native English speakers like myself usually use the Indonesian word (pembantu, which means helper and has no negative connotations) when talking about maids, and either English or Indonesian for guard, gardener, cook, and nanny. (Peculiarly enough, the Indonesian word for “nanny” is “babysitter”, so English speakers only use the term “nanny”, never the Indonesian.)
If you are talking about everyone who works for you, it’s usual to refer to them as “the staff.”
yeah, this. You don’t actually OWN servants, but they are dependant on their employers for more than just an hourly wage.
If someone said to me that they had “servants” I would think that they were either fabulously wealthy and out of touch with modern life, or that they were horribly classist and trying to be snobby. Neither of those are complimentary, but the first could be out of ignorance rather than outright malice.
Most people around here have “help” of some sort or another, but it’s considered increasingly gauche to either mention that you resort to it yourself, or (even worse) to out someone else for having it.
About the only thing that won’t get you not-so-quietly judged are outdoor workers doing your yardwork once a week (because it’s bloody hot, and they’re cheap to hire), or an infrequent cleaning service if you’re elderly or infirm (especially if you are very independent in other areas, because then you’re just trying to keep yourself from being beholden to others, bless your heart).
Even an au-pair is fraught - if you’re married, and both work and need someone to mind your offspring you’ll get treated like you’re either stuck-up, rich, or not appropriately invested in parenthood, but then this is a judgy area to live in.
“Servant” is probably considered gauche in most circles.
But, if you say it in a certain tone of voice, “the help” can be just as disrespectful as “servants”.
I would go with specific job descriptions.
Whatever happened to “lackeys”?
I strive to be PC. 
“Infrequent”… ok, so you think my 98yo grandma who gets a caretaker for 2h, 5d/week is… what, not independent enough?
Excuse me, I need to go recover my eyes from where they rolled to. Good thing I can touch-type 
Don’t shoot the messenger - it’s the south. Old ladies gotta b&m about something! May as well be your gramma. 
I prefer “minions”. I aspire to own err… *employ *several one day.