I don't know if that's in the spirit of the riddle but here's my take:

Let's lable the switches 1, 2 and 3.
You turn on switch 1 for a couple minutes. Then you turn it off and turn on switch 2.
You then go to the basement.

If the light is on: Switch 2 turns on the light.
If the light is off: Check if the bulb is hot (by carefully touching it). If the bulb is hot: Switch 1 turns on the light. If the bulb is cold: Switch 3 turns on the light.