Question

why wouldn'twe be able to wash clothes,utensiles etc in the absence of friction?

Answer 1

In conventional washing we rub our clothes with a brush which basically applies a shear force to the dust particles and the dust particles deattaches from the cloth. If there would have been no friction then the brush would not have been been able to wipe of the dirt much like you would not be able to walk on ground. In washing machines we are using viscous forces of water which are end result of friction therefore washing machines would also have been rendered useless in that case but methods like beating a carpet with a stick would still have worked because they rely on momentum exchange rater than friction.