I know that they both mean "finish". But I wonder if there are situations or contexts where you can use one but not the other.
Answer
終わる/済む = intransitive. "to end/to come to an end/to be over/to finish etc."
終わらせる/終える/済ませる/済ます = transitive. "to finish/to end/to complete etc."
終わらせる sounds to me like "to make(force) something finish/to put an end to something", while 済ませる sounds like "to let something finish/to let something be over", and I think 済ませる is more used when you're talking about finishing something unfavourable.
We can say "~~との関係を終わらせる"(dump~~/break up with~~)/"~との関係は終わった"(broke up with~~) but not "~~との関係を済ませる"/"~~との関係は済んだ".
I think "(~~と/との)話を終わらせる" and "(~~と/との)話を済ませる" can mean the same thing (="to finish~~"). "話を終わらせる" can also mean "to stop talking to someone (before you finish)" but "話しを済ませる" can't.
I don't see any major difference between "宿題が済んだらゲームしよう" and "宿題が終わったらゲームしよう"/"仕事を済ませて帰宅する" and "仕事を終わらせて帰宅する/"仕事を終えて帰宅する".("終えて" sounds a bit literary.)
"済ます/済ませる" can also be used to say "~~なしで済ます/済ませる(=do without~~)", "~~で済ます/済ませる(=~~で間に合わせる/make do with~~)", but we can't rephrase them as "~~なしで終わらせる"/"~~で終わらせる".
"済む/済ませる" can also mean "解決する/to settle", e.g. "このままでは済まされないぞ"(We can't let the matter go at this)/"金で済む(or済まされる)問題じゃない"(You can't settle the matter with money)/"軽いけがで済んだ"(I escaped with only a minor injury)/"気が済むまで殴れ！"(Hit me until you're satisfied), and you can't use 終わる/終わらせる for these expressions.
You can say "任務を終えて帰国する"(carry out one's duty)/"70歳で生涯を終える"(die at the age of 70) but not "任務を済ませて/生涯を済ませる".
(Hmm I don't think this is all...there must be a lot more than this.)
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