My husband is disabled and we recently hired a private contractor caregiver and after working a few weeks informed us that he was no longer available. He agreed to be paid for his services on the 17th of the month which we did. However he has now filed a claim that we owe him wages for every day that he did not work between when he told us he couldn't work and when we paid our bill owed to him. I want to know what the law says in regards to private contractors and when they have to be paid by.

Generally speaking, if this person qualified as your employee, then you were required by law to pay him his final pay on his last day worked, if he gave you at least 72 hours notice.
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_Paydays.htm

However, he would either have to file a complaint with the DLSE or sue you privately for the penalty, if it applies. I would not pay it voluntarily, as there may be some exception based on your specific situation that I am not aware of.

thank you for your reply. He did not give any notice he just didn't show up for 4 days or return any phone calls then when he finally did call said he could not come back to work and agreed to a date we could pay him on which we did, now he wants money for the days between our phone call and the day when he recieved his money even though he did not work.

First, if he is an independent contractor, then he is not protected by the labor laws. There are a lot of laws regarding in home care givers, so you will need to look into those to be sure.

In addition, the statute (Cal. Labor Code 203) which calls for the payment of wages past termination if not paid immedialtely specifically says "An employee
who secretes or absents himself or herself to avoid payment to him
or her, or who refuses to receive the payment when fully tendered to
him or her, including any penalty then accrued under this section, is
not entitled to any benefit under this section for the time during
which he or she so avoids payment."

I think the statute is designed to protect against just such an occurance. The labor laws are designed to protect the innocent, not provide a windfall to those that try to manipluate them.