An example method of scheduling a workload in a virtualized computing system including a host cluster having a virtualization layer directly executing on hardware platforms of hosts is described. The virtualization layer supports execution of virtual machines (VMs) and is integrated with an orchestration control plane. The method includes: receiving, at the orchestration control plane, a workload specification for the workload; selecting, at the orchestration control plane, a plurality of nodes for the workload based on the workload specification, each of the plurality of nodes implemented by a host of the hosts; selecting, by the orchestration control plane in cooperation with a virtualization management server managing the host cluster, a node of the plurality of nodes; and deploying, by the orchestration control plane in cooperation with the virtualization management server, the workload on a host in the host cluster implementing the selected node.