How did Buddhism and Hinduism differ in their approaches to sex work I'm writing a paper on religion and the different attitudes and approaches to prostitution and I can't quite find anything that indicates the major differences in how Buddhism and Hinduism regards sex workers, prostitution itself and how it translated into laws. If possible I'd also like to know if different Buddhist and Hinduist tendencies  differ in their approaches.

Any help would be wonderful and I give thanks in advance
In Buddhism, any activity based in only "lust" is unwholesome, as follows:


  And what is the root of the unwholesome? Greed (lust) is a root of the unwholesome; hate is a root of the unwholesome; delusion is a root of the unwholesome. This is called the root of the unwholesome. MN 9
  
  
  
  Dhammapada
   202. There is no fire like lust 
  
  


In Buddhism, no prostitute ever gained enlightenment. Instead, only "ex-prostitutes" (e.g. Vimala) gained enlightenment. Buddhism states a fully enlightened being is incapable of performing the sexual act (AN 9.7). 

Any action that harms oneself or another is unwholesome in Buddhism (MN 61). References to prostitution in Buddhism generally include harming, for example:


  Unsatisfied with his own wife, with others’ wives he’s seen in tow,
  corrupted too with prostitutes— that’s the way to disaster’s woe
  
  Snp 1.6
  
  
  
  As they grow, the defilements possess many people; They play with
  fools, I believe, like demons with the mad.
  
  In medicine they are like doctors, in business like householders, in
  decoration like prostitutes, in sovereignty like lords.
  
  Cheats, frauds, false witnesses, sly: using multiple plans, they enjoy
  material things.
  
  Thag 16.10


(I may add more to this answer at a later time).