Placing subfig vertically

Your problem is different, as you don't have to measure anything.

In order to align the two parts at the top, you can use \raisebox{-\height}{...}.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx,subfig}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}[tbp]
\centering

\raisebox{-\height}{%
  \subfloat[Image 1]{%
     \includegraphics[height=5cm]{example-image-9x16}%
     \label{image1}%
  }%
}\qquad
\raisebox{-\height}{%
  \begin{tabular}{@{}c@{}}
  \subfloat[Image 2]{%
    \includegraphics[width=0.4\textwidth]{example-image}%
    \label{image2}%
  } \\
  \subfloat[Image 3]{%
    \includegraphics[width=0.4\textwidth]{example-image}%
    \label{image3}%
  }
  \end{tabular}%
}
\caption{Figure}
\label{figure}

\end{figure}

\end{document}

If you want to vertically center the left image:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx,subfig}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}[tbp]
\centering

\begin{tabular}{@{}c@{}}
  \subfloat[Image 1]{%
     \includegraphics[height=5cm]{example-image-9x16}%
     \label{image1}%
  }%
\end{tabular}\qquad
\begin{tabular}{@{}c@{}}
  \subfloat[Image 2]{%
    \includegraphics[width=0.4\textwidth]{example-image}%
    \label{image2}%
  } \\
  \subfloat[Image 3]{%
    \includegraphics[width=0.4\textwidth]{example-image}%
    \label{image3}%
  }
\end{tabular}

\caption{Figure}
\label{figure}

\end{figure}

\end{document}

see if the following example can help you:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multirow,tabularx}
\usepackage[export, demo]{adjustbox}
\usepackage{subfig}
\newsavebox\bigleftbox

\begin{document}
\begin{figure}[tb]
\centering
    \begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{XX}
    \multirow[t]{2}{=}{\subfloat[Image 1 \label{image1}]%
                    {\includegraphics[height=5cm, valign=t]{images1}}%
                    }
    &   \subfloat[Image 2 \label{image2}]%
                    {\includegraphics[height=\dimexpr2.5 cm-\baselineskip, valign=t]{images1}} \\
    &   \subfloat[Image 3 \label{image3}]%
                    {\includegraphics[height=\dimexpr2.5 cm-\baselineskip, valign=b]{images1}} \\
\end{tabularx}
    \caption{Figure}
\label{figure}

Here is a variant using minipages:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx,subfig}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}
\centering
  \begin{minipage}[c]{0.3\textwidth}
    \subfloat[Image 1]{%
       \includegraphics[height=5cm]{example-image-9x16}%
       \label{image1}%
    }
  \end{minipage}
  \begin{minipage}[c]{0.4\textwidth}
   \subfloat[Image 2]{%
      \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{example-image}%
      \label{image2}%
    }

   \subfloat[Image 3]{%
    \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{example-image}%
    \label{image3}%
  }
  \end{minipage}
\caption{Figure}
\label{figure}
\end{figure}

\end{document}