Maybe most think like that, but certainly not all!
On the subject of a punter pulling an escort - I think it's an interesting scenario, and I've read the various comments over the last couple of days on your other thread. What I don't think is clear from those posts is who initiated things - I think if there's anything beyond a paid relationship, then it has to be the escort that makes the move - which I guess would turn it into the escort pulling a punter.
I imagine halfway house kept woman scenarios are more common? I once knew a girl socially, who I then met as a wg and punted with several times, and then she turned up as the kept woman of a rich acquaintance of mine.
Another example - when I first moved to Bristol a girl asked me for a light on the street one evening - I just said sorry - don't smoke. Then I encountered her as a WG - she said she'd just moved down to Bristol and would I like her to move in with me? She was an absolute dreamboat to look at, tall, pretty as a picture and a bod to die for. I was at least ten years older than her, and not short of a bob or two, so I didn't fool myself that her motivation was romantic. I didn't take her up on the offer, and was careful not to run into her again.
There've been other instances like that - but I think it was the case that I didn't have two heads, appeared unlikely to be an axe murderer, and was clearly financially solvent. I don't think the girls in question were necessarily setting their sights any higher than that. In "real life" I'm sure women often settle for that as the basis for a relationship.