The 39-year-old's fourth goal of the season gave Alan Pardew's side a Guy Fawkes Day victory which lifted them into eighth spot, while West Bromwich Albion's lack of sparkle leaves them precariously perched in 17th place with almost a third of the season now gone.
Following back-to-back defeats on their travels to Bolton Wanderers and Liverpool, the Hammers had made one telling change from the side that lost at Anfield as Sheringham returned to replace David Bellion.
Albion, still smarting from their 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Newcastle United, made three changes as Junichi Inamoto, Diomansy Kamara and Martin Albrechtsen all returned to action.
Traffic congestion had caused a ten-minute delay to kick-off but West Ham quickly got into gear as they speedily went in search of an elusive early goal.
First, Marlon Harewood saw his goal-bound shot deflected wide and then, when Yossi Benayoun launched a corner into the danger area, the Hammers striker failed to connect with Anton Ferdinand's flick-on.
But after a shaky start, Albion started to hit back as Kamara, selfishly choosing the wrong option, drilled his tightly-angled shot into the side-netting and, after Steve Watson saw his header ruled out by an offside flag, Nwankwo Kanu then nodded straight at the alert Shaka Hislop from point-blank range.
At the other end, Tomasz Kuszczak proved equally agile when he scooped Benayoun's low shot away from the base of his near post while Hayden Mullins somehow skied over from eight yards.
And the relieved Polish keeper then parried Harewood's low shot into Sheringham's path before seeing Benayoun's follow-up scrambled off the line by Curtis Davies to keep it goalless at the break.
Pardew was forced to replace his injured skipper Nigel Reo-Coker (ankle) with Christian Dailly during the interval and, as the Hammers re-adjusted, Hislop required treatment after bravely diving into Kanu's studs to claim the ball at the second attempt.
On 50 minutes, Harewood broke free but, just as they had done during a torrid first half, his shooting boots again deserted him as he volleyed into the side-netting with the exposed Kuszczak looking extremely vulnerable.
Fortunately for the Eastenders, the other half of their strikeforce has composure in bucket-loads, and when Tomas Repka's flighted 57th-minute free-kick was nodded back into the danger zone by Dailly, Sheringham calmly drilled home from eight yards to finally break the deadlock.
Hislop's earlier collision with Kanu's boot then forced him to retire as Stephen Bywater - recalled from a loan spell at Coventry City - saw his first Premiership action of the season.
And although Bryan Robson hurled on both Geoff Horsfield and then Kevin Campbell in a fruitless attempt to stimulate a Baggies leveller, there was to be no way back past the Hammers substitute keeper and a defiant defence determined to hold onto their three hard-fought points.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Yossi Benayoun (West Ham United) - Adventurous in attack and dogged in defence the Israeli imp trod every blade of the Upton Park turf.