There are a variety of quasi-censuses. For instance, the Great Fire of Potton in the 1780s burned down half the town, and the accounts of the trustees of the national appeal for relief survive. They list all of the loss claims ... who claimed, how much they had lost, and what dividend they received. And yes, all of their occupations are stated.
Then there are the registers of duty paid on apprenticeship deeds, which are digitised and searchable online. Their contents vary, but at best you get: name, place of abode/business and trade of master, name of apprentice; name, place of abode and occupation of apprentice's father; date of apprenticeship deed and premium paid.
If you have innkeepers / publicans in your family then you may be able to tap into a rich seam of justices' recognisances. Once a year they had to enter into a recognisance to keep an orderly house (a bond, effectively, which could be forfeit if they failed to do so) and in many places the justices' registers of recognisances survive. They may not be well indexed or easily searchable, but they are there, and you can check year-on-year whether your ancestor is still keeping the same house, or has moved on to a different one.
(The London Metropolitan Archives have a LOT of London recognisances ... but then there were a lot of public houses in London. They are not well indexed, however, so they can take a lot of searching ... )
