I believe the bullies would be the bookers. It's maybe an exceptional circumstance that the bullying is overt, like yelling or something. What's more common is probably them not booking clients who ask to see an escort (saying they’re fully booked) because somehow the lady pissed them off. And yet, I imagine such booker tactics must be inspired by the owners desire for profit in some way, since in the end it’s about profits…
Can one this call the booker a pimp? Perhaps. Though it doesn’t bring to mind the same connotation the word is meant to have that is internalized in the here and now for many. The key difference, if we take the terms literal meaning, is that the booker isn’t so much in control of the female agency in our 1st world. And that’s because she has choices to leave and still gain income at a different agency, or via indy, I think. This is also why onlyfans has been a very good thing for sexwork overall. That being said, if I had more insight into the going ons behind the scene, I might indeed think of a booker simply as a pimp. If we begin to deviate from “merb advertisers” ask yourself: if some dude is texting replies from the escorts phone you’re planning to see…is he her pimp? How much control does he have over her life? How much of her earnings is he allowed to claim to not be considered overstepping from booker to pimp??