Here is a rather paltry collection of sources that I have gathered; read this before any class on sex workers. I’ll try to link to more and add in the necessary bibliography over the next week.
Here are some other sources, including a legal definition of what constituted a sex worker from the Roman Digest.
Here is a link to the webpage for Professor Sarah Levin-Richardson at the University of Washington; she has a number of publications particularly about the brothel in Pompeii and supplied us with its graffiti and translations which are listed there.
(Many entertainers, and also athletes also did sex work, though generally it’s not called that by scholars when we hear of it with athletes. So look in those sources as well.)
Bibliography:
Duncan, A. (2006) ‘Infamous Performers: Comic Actors and Female Prostitutes in Rome’. In Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World, ed. by Faraone, C. & McClure, L. Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 252-273
Edwards, C. (1997) ‘Unspeakable Professions: Public Performance and Prostitution in Ancient Rome’. In Roman Sexualities, ed. by Hallett, J. P. & Skinner, M. B. Princeton University Press: New Jersey, 66-98
Olson, K. (2006) ‘Matrona and Whore: Clothing and Definition in Roman Antiquity’. In
Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World, ed. by Faraone, C.A. & McClure, L. Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 186-204.