I think what the OP had in mind and what is actually common in Europe is "contracting". It's basically a full-time position, but you're brought in as an independent company (mostly to circumvent labor laws and sometimes tax laws as well) and not an employee. It's all basically a widespread scam to work around dysfunctional laws. BTW job sites in UK even the the "permanent employee/contractor" toggle for searching through full-time positions.