There are copper pipes, here?!
In a modern dwelling, you'd expect there to be plumbing, a furnace, electrical wires, etc. You get to see the effects of this infrastruture (lights, running water, heat), but you rarely if ever actually see the infrastructure.
Hogwarts has no visible servants. It has food, lighting, and all of the benefits of servants. Much as in the era when electricity and plumbing where new or only for the upper classes, if you went to a house with those services without servants, you'd exect the "invisible" infrastructure to be providing it.
At the same time, a book on a school wouldn't mention it has a furnace or it is electrically wired or it has plumbing, unless the retrofit occurred during its existence. In the case of Hogwarts, it probably has had house elves over its entire exitence.
The children probably didn't think about the house-elves, except for maybe ones at the edge of being well off. But there is no reason to think they wouldn't know they where there. The poorest or the muggle-bred might not even know how the services happen; the richest would presume it was house-elves and approve of their invisibility if they ever thought about it (how often do most kids think about plumbing?). Those at the edge of being able to afford their own house-elf might think about it more, being aware of the advantages, and recognizing them, etc.
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