DataFrames is not different from base Julia, a column in a DataFrame is just a plain old Vector:
julia> x = ["a", missing, " "]
3-element Vector{Union{Missing, String}}:
"a"
missing
" "
julia> replace(x, " " => missing)
3-element Vector{Union{Missing, String}}:
"a"
missing
missing
would still be the same if x was a column in a DataFrame - it would just be df.x