the dishwashing quest i sonly a very minor one.
beside from some EXP, you get a shadow potion,
for a solution, Did you try to take the telekinesis skil to take the dishes.
if you do noy have th eskill, you cab use the saveeditor (try search) and put in a skill point telekinesis after you get the dishes remove them again <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
how to get in to jail. the only thing i know is to get cought by stealing and the guards take you to jail.
but i never tried that out