Some180 members of the Transport & General Workers Union (TGWU) are to be balloted on a call to raise their current £5 an hour rate to a "living wage" of £6.70 an hour.
Around 50 cleaners staged a protest outside parliament today, following months of complaints. More than 250 MPs, from all parties, have so far backed their pay claim.
Jack Dromey, the deputy general secretary of the TGWU, said: "It is a scandal that the mother of democracy treats cleaners with so much disrespect.
"The time has come for this scandal to end so that the cleaners can earn a living wage.
"The problem is that parliament is screwing the contractors and the contractors in turn have screwed the cleaners. The cleaners have had enough and they want to take strike action."
The union called on MPs and ministers to support the cleaners and said parliament should be "ashamed" of the low rates of pay.
Around 50 of the cleaners staged a noisy demonstration opposite the House of Commons today, waving placards and chanting "End low pay now!".
Any strike will be the first by cleaners at the Commons, who clean MPs' offices as well as the main chamber.
One of the cleaners, Evrard Ouale, 26, said he worked four hours a day overtime because the wages were so low.
He warned that MPs' offices, corridors and the chamber would be left in a "mess" if the cleaners went on strike.
"We are all up for industrial action because nothing has happened since we started campaigning in February.
"Our shifts start at 4am and we are kept busy all day cleaning up paper and other mess left by the MPs."
Mr Ouale said he worked 12 hours a day for around £225 a week, which he said was not enough to live in London.
Many of the cleaners said they had two or even three jobs to make ends meet.
Mr Dromey said he would be writing to every MP and member of the House of Lords seeking their support for the campaign.
Around 250 politicians signed an early day motion backing the union's case before the general election but Mr Dromey said the time had come to turn words into action.
The cleaners are employed by two companies, Mitie and Emprise, whose contracts with parliament have another three years to run.
Mr Dromey told the protesters today: "You do an outstanding job and should be proud of yourselves. Parliament should be ashamed of itself."
Shahid Malik, Labour MP for Dewsbury, stood alongside the cleaners and said they deserved a fair day's pay.
