At least here in CA, if a person is told what to do, in what manner to do it, what time to show up, is supervised, is provided material and does not have contractors license, then that person is an employee and can not be treated as a sub contractor.
If the same person is given a set of plans,the total amount is aggreed on, the finish time is stated and the person has a contractors license then the person can act as one.
