If you were told by someone at Canon the repair would be free then they will likely take care of it.
Cleanings are normally NEVER free. It's like changing an air filter in your car or an oil change. Granted the price may be higher, but I am sure the cleaning is done by a skilled technician, not an oil change mechanic.
If I recall this cleaning is a requirement on all SLR digital camera, regardless of the brand...
Sounds like it is general maint to me.

I have to raise a question, if you were a repair tech for them, then why didn't you just clean it yourself, especially if its that easy and quick to do, rather then pay to ship it etc... ? Something smells fishy about your story... Just my thoughts.

As an aside, prices are going up for service because the prices of the products are going down. When companies make cheap products, quality companies like Canon, have to compete thus making up for the price difference somewhere normally in repair. This is industry-wide in the electronic market.