>> assuming it consists of a single particle when dissolved <<
It may be in the case of soaps and detergents that significant ion-pairing occurs. This is when a positive and negative ion in solution come in contact, behaving for a brief time as a single solute particle. Ion-pairing in solutions of ionic compounds increases with concentration, and as a result considerable deviation from the colligative property formulas occurs. The concentration of ions divided by the concentration of dissolved solute is called the van't Hoff factor, i. Here are van't Hoff factors for MgSO4 (which gives two ions in solution):
Molal concentration i
0.1 m 1.21
0.01 m 1.53
0.001 m 1.82
If 100% dissociation occurs 2
Even at the fairly dilute concentration of 0.1 m (m = moles of solute / kg of solvent) MgSO4 behaves more like one particle than two. The Mg2+ and SO42- ions really attract each other. NaCl is not as bad as this, since the ions have charges of only +1 and -1 and so do not attract each other as strongly (i = 1.87 at 0.1 m, not so far from the ideal value of 2).
Soaps and detergents have a long, nonpolar hydrocarbon "tail" part which is hydrophobic and therefore does not interact with the water solvent molecules well. This can increase the ion-pairing effect because if the ion containing the nonpolar part (the negative ion) does not dissolve easily, the positive ion (such as Na+) cannot get very far away.
So possibly soaps and detergents really do behave more like one particle in solution due to this ion-pairing, rather than the expected two particles. If so, the problem is being realistic in this regard.
Nothing is ever "simple" in chemistry!
Steve