I've actually noticed quite a few websites that display random Adsense ads that don't really have anything to do with the website. I know this isn't intentional and I've had this problem in the past too. It seems the problem is usually because the domain name is irrelevant or there are too many niches on the page. Is this in violation of Google's TOS? If I was an advertiser, I wouldn't want my ads appearing on a website that doesn't have a definite niche to it.
since the publisher cannot control what ads are displayed, the answer would be no, not a violation of the TOS. .
Well, the problem is often on the homepage of the website. For example, if EzineArticles.com had Adsense on their homepage they would probably have a bunch of random ads. I think this is why they don't have them there but do have them within the articles.