diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.test.ts b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.test.ts
index 8c562b5200..f37a81f9f8 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.test.ts
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ describe('KubernetesClientProvider', () => {
         authProvider: 'serviceAccount',
       },
       new Set(['pods', 'services']),
+      '',
     );
 
     expect(result).toStrictEqual({
@@ -129,6 +130,7 @@ describe('KubernetesClientProvider', () => {
         authProvider: 'serviceAccount',
       },
       new Set(['pods', 'services']),
+      '',
     );
 
     expect(result).toStrictEqual({
@@ -178,6 +180,7 @@ describe('KubernetesClientProvider', () => {
           authProvider: 'serviceAccount',
         },
         new Set<any>(['foo']),
+        '',
       ),
     ).toThrow('unrecognised type=foo');
 
@@ -254,4 +257,46 @@ describe('KubernetesClientProvider', () => {
       },
     );
   });
+  it('should always add a labelSelector query', async () => {
+    clientMock.listPodForAllNamespaces.mockResolvedValueOnce({
+      body: {
+        items: [
+          {
+            metadata: {
+              name: 'pod-name',
+            },
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+    });
+
+    clientMock.listServiceForAllNamespaces.mockResolvedValueOnce({
+      body: {
+        items: [
+          {
+            metadata: {
+              name: 'service-name',
+            },
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+    });
+
+    await sut.fetchObjectsForService(
+      'some-service',
+      {
+        name: 'cluster1',
+        url: 'http://localhost:9999',
+        serviceAccountToken: 'token',
+        authProvider: 'serviceAccount',
+      },
+      new Set(['pods', 'services']),
+      '',
+    );
+
+    const mockCall = clientMock.listPodForAllNamespaces.mock.calls[0];
+    const actualSelector = mockCall[mockCall.length - 1];
+    const expectedSelector = 'backstage.io/kubernetes-id=some-service';
+    expect(actualSelector).toBe(expectedSelector);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.ts b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.ts
index 3bfb651d52..a1ed21552b 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.ts
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.ts
@@ -116,7 +116,9 @@ export class KubernetesClientBasedFetcher implements KubernetesFetcher {
         serviceId,
         clusterDetails,
         type,
-        labelSelector,
+        labelSelector.length !== 0
+          ? labelSelector
+          : `backstage.io/kubernetes-id=${serviceId}`,
       ).catch(captureKubernetesErrorsRethrowOthers);
     });
 
diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/getKubernetesObjectsByServiceIdHandler.test.ts b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/getKubernetesObjectsByServiceIdHandler.test.ts
index f413d080c6..2f779adfe8 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/getKubernetesObjectsByServiceIdHandler.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/getKubernetesObjectsByServiceIdHandler.test.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import { ClusterDetails } from '..';
 
 const TEST_SERVICE_ID = 'my-service';
 
-const fetchObjectsByServiceId = jest.fn();
+const fetchObjectsForService = jest.fn();
 
 const getClustersByServiceId = jest.fn();
 
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ const mockFetch = (mock: jest.Mock) => {
   );
 };
 
-describe('handleGetKubernetesObjectsByServiceId', () => {
+describe('handleGetKubernetesObjectsForService', () => {
   beforeEach(() => {
     jest.resetAllMocks();
   });
@@ -79,22 +79,23 @@ describe('handleGetKubernetesObjectsByServiceId', () => {
       ]),
     );
 
-    mockFetch(fetchObjectsByServiceId);
+    mockFetch(fetchObjectsForService);
 
     const result = await handleGetKubernetesObjectsForService(
       TEST_SERVICE_ID,
       {
-        fetchObjectsForService: fetchObjectsByServiceId,
+        fetchObjectsForService: fetchObjectsForService,
       },
       {
         getClustersByServiceId,
       },
       getVoidLogger(),
       {},
+      '',
     );
 
     expect(getClustersByServiceId.mock.calls.length).toBe(1);
-    expect(fetchObjectsByServiceId.mock.calls.length).toBe(1);
+    expect(fetchObjectsForService.mock.calls.length).toBe(1);
     expect(result).toStrictEqual({
       items: [
         {
@@ -153,12 +154,12 @@ describe('handleGetKubernetesObjectsByServiceId', () => {
       ]),
     );
 
-    mockFetch(fetchObjectsByServiceId);
+    mockFetch(fetchObjectsForService);
 
     const result = await handleGetKubernetesObjectsForService(
       TEST_SERVICE_ID,
       {
-        fetchObjectsForService: fetchObjectsByServiceId,
+        fetchObjectsForService: fetchObjectsForService,
       },
       {
         getClustersByServiceId,
@@ -169,10 +170,11 @@ describe('handleGetKubernetesObjectsByServiceId', () => {
           google: 'google_token_123',
         },
       },
+      '',
     );
 
     expect(getClustersByServiceId.mock.calls.length).toBe(1);
-    expect(fetchObjectsByServiceId.mock.calls.length).toBe(2);
+    expect(fetchObjectsForService.mock.calls.length).toBe(2);
     expect(result).toStrictEqual({
       items: [
         {
diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/router.ts b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/router.ts
index 5462b5c9fb..fada4c7888 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/router.ts
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/router.ts
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ export const makeRouter = (
         serviceLocator,
         logger,
         requestBody,
-        labelSelector,
+        labelSelector ? labelSelector.toString() : '',
       );
       res.send(response);
     } catch (e) {
diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes/src/api/KubernetesBackendClient.ts b/plugins/kubernetes/src/api/KubernetesBackendClient.ts
index faf9aaf024..c6d0153538 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes/src/api/KubernetesBackendClient.ts
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes/src/api/KubernetesBackendClient.ts
@@ -54,8 +54,9 @@ export class KubernetesBackendClient implements KubernetesApi {
   private parseLabelSelector(params: V1LabelSelector): string {
     // TODO: figure out how to convert the selector to the full query param from the yaml
     //  (as shown here https://github.com/kubernetes/apimachinery/blob/master/pkg/labels/selector.go)
-    return Object.keys(params.matchLabels)
-      .map(key => `${key}=${params[key]}`)
+    const { matchLabels } = params;
+    return Object.keys(matchLabels)
+      .map(key => `${key}=${matchLabels[key]}`)
       .join(',');
   }