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I'm in the same boat in that my PCs want a salary. For background, they are from an established barony whose Baron was killed, and they became embroiled in the succession battle, helping the Baron's adopted daughter, who is also their NPC healer, to claim the throne. They've filled half of the leadership positions and want a salary.
The Barony is in rough shape in that a public scandal with the previous Baron raised Unrest, and they are suffering from a massive gnoll incursion that has led to the defeat of a quarter of their militia and loss of a settlement and some hexes with farms. Unrest is high (> 11) and refugees are pouring into the capital from the countryside and selling their belongings for ship passage to safer lands.
Given the bad condition of the Barony, any payments have been deferred until (if) they can save the rule of their Baroness.
What I plan to do, however, is reward them with land, similar to historical feudalism. Two have already been knighted, and they'll receive land on which which to build a manor and that already has several farms. Each Farm (which includes 1 Farm Land, 1 Animal Pen, and 1 Garden) generates 3.6gp per day using the Downtime System, if one Takes 10 on the roll to Earn Income. This comes to 100gp, 8sp per month for each farm. I figure a typical knight might have a manor and a few farms, perhaps 4, so I might give the PCs 6 since they are favored at court. They'll likely have to fund their own manor, house, villa, or whatever they plan to live in, though, since it'll be a newer fief.
I'll admit it does feel wrong pulling Farms out of thin air to grant to the PCs, though those farms presumably were purchased with BP when those hexes were upgraded.
One of the PCs is the Spymaster, and he is in the process of building his own secret police force and also using the Downtime System to build a Pier, Orphanage, and eventually a Black Market, all of which he plans to manage through a Cohort from his eventual leadership feat.
Another is the Royal Enforcer (Sheriff) who is building a Jail and City Watch (using the Bounty Hunter Organization). I'm thinking about letting him keep earnings from the Jail and City Watch (78 gp per month) which could come from fines and merchant/aristocrat donations to pay more attention to them and their wares) but I'm not entirely sure yet.
For the Magister (a Wizard), I think he is content to craft and sell magic items and live out of the castle for free.
So that's where I'm at now. In medieval times, I think advisers to liege lords were typically lesser lords, knights, or clerks. The lords and knights received their income from their holdings, whereas clerks were paid much smaller sums (in comparison to adventurers, knights and minor nobles), perhaps in line with Managers in the Downtime System...about 50-100gp per month.
Where things will deviate from the norm is that my PCs are responsible for the Baroness being in power. She owes them everything. So on top of these ideas, I'll probably have her use BP to buy some magic items, and will also roll up some that were in the castle treasury (perhaps 2 medium and 2 minor), and give an item to each PC as a gift (while probably deducting that amount from their wealth per level for that level to account for it).