Carpet salesman runs admin badly (9)
I believe the answer is:
reprimand
'carpet' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'salesman runs admin badly' is the wordplay.
'salesman' becomes 'rep' (I've seen this before).
'runs' becomes 'r' (cricket abbreviation).
'badly' indicates anagramming the letters.
'admin' with letters rearranged gives 'imand'.
'rep'+'r'+'imand'='REPRIMAND'
(Other definitions for reprimand that I've seen before include "Formal rebuke" , "Severe reproof" , "Official scolding" , "Formal censure" , "talking-to" .)