check out the book Home Comforts. it’s a housekeeping manual written by a lawyer — her passion and knowledge is fantastic and i revisit it often. There’s chapter that answers your question.

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I remember in the Zoo I worked it was.

Soap for general cleaning

Bleach for disinfecting

Simple Green to get rid of grease

Vinegar for urine smell

I think you were looking for r/askscience, though I did see a similar question last week whose responded were hardly more specific.

You may have better luck looking up the material safety and data sheets (MSDS), and then looking up the various ingredients on your own.

Chiming in kind of late, and I don’t know nearly as much as others. But having worked with wood and wood finishes quite a bit I would recommend against using things like pledge to clean finished wood surfaces, it can damage the finish and makes it hard to refinish. Instead use water with a bit of dawn dish soap in it, it cuts grease and cleans most things off and won’t damage your finish.

Don’t forget WD-40. If you want to get roofing tar off of your hands, clothes, spray with WD-40. With oils, remember “like dissolves like.” Then go for the Dawn to clean up the light oil.

Water or Isopropyl Alcohol for things like screens or windows with tint. The higher the concentration the more water.

Bleach or bleach product for toilet/shower

Baking soda for any cloth you can’t bleach

Windex Multi-Purpose for literally any other surface (it’s amazing). You can technically use it in the shower/toilet, but you’ll have to scrub harder.

My parents keep like every cleaning product known to man and it’s annoying as fuck to find what you need when I help them out. I’ve only used these 4 basic products to clean everything I own over the past 8 years.

Fun side note to others answers, bleach is often the only household cleaner that can kill certain viruses (i.e. canine parvovirus, which can live on a surface for up to a year if not bleached).

I keep a squeegee in my shower. Use it on your glass shower doors before you get out every time. If you do this every time your doors will stay free of soap residue and spots

Dawn dishwashing liquid is the best of the best! I won’t use anything else…for those that might want to know. It cuts grease/oil very well.