They did, but only for ten hours a day or so. Then they had to find their own food, clothing, and shelter. Read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.
I would much rather have been Thomas Jefferson's slave than a coal miner in west Virginia.
ML/NJ
I think that is a key point that always needs to be emphasized.
If you are (for example) a coal miner, you had to work hard, risk your health, take care of your family, pay for your housing, pay for your food, and worry that the work might disappear. A hard life.
If you were a slave, you had to work hard, but Master took care of you (valuable property) and provided housing, food, medical care and always had work for you. A demeaning life.
In a modern Welfare state, you don’t need to work, the government Master takes care of you (valuable votes) and provides housing, food, medical care and has very low expectations that you will make any contribution to society. A demeaning life.
Thomas Jefferson had the legal right to sell you, your wife, your children to the cotton plantations in Alabama or rice plantations in South Carolina. There was no guarantee that he would keep you at Monticello.
The coal miner in West Virginia had the legal right to quit the mine and move out of West Virginia. Something no slave could do.