I think the ‘useless eaters’ term goes back to George Bernard Shaw (Fabian Society) in the early twentieth century. Could have been more widespread than just him saying it though, those people were evil.
I think Issac Watts or Charles Wesley or another hymnist wrote a poem about people who live their lived but never contributed anything positive to their community or the world. It would have predated Shaw, Shaw echos the thought:
“...those who only ate, then died, and left behind an empty plate.”
May be in The Norton Anthology Eng.Lit. , but I think my Daughter borrowed it for college and I do not think it made it back.