@redwoodreturn
The difference between an employee and an independent contractor comes down to control -- who controls the time, manner, and place of work. There is some general guidance in publication 926, and some other guidance on the difference between employees and contractors here.
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-o...
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p926
About the only thing you can do is to document the arrangement (at the time of the arrangement) and why you think the caregiver is a contractor and not an employee, and keep that in case of audit. It's unlikely that you will get audited at random, and more likely that one of the caregivers would file a complaint with the IRS claiming they were hired as a contractor when they should have been an employee (form SS-8) (because being a contractor is a bit more expensive for the person than being an employee).
https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-ss-8
